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| Greece's ultra-right party holds rally in survival struggle Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 11:29 AM PST  About 1,000 supporters of Greece's Golden Dawn party gathered outside parliament on Saturday to protest against the pre-trial detention of their leader Nikolaos Mihaloliakos on charges of forming a criminal organization. Clad in black clothes, carrying torches and Greek flags, the ultra-right party's supporters shouted slogans such as "hands off Golden Dawn, don't jail nationalists" to the sound of Greek folk and marching songs. It was Golden Dawn's most high-profile public action since a government crackdown against it in September, following the killing of an anti-fascist rapper by one of its supporters. But the poor turnout of just a few hundred sympathizers showed Golden Dawn is still struggling to recover from the action of the authorities. Full Story | Top |
| Cameron 'turns page' on Dalai Lama row with China visit Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 10:43 AM PST  By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - Britain has put a diplomatic rift with China over the Dalai Lama behind it and Prime Minister David Cameron has no plans to meet Tibet's spiritual leader again, a senior source in his office said ahead of a visit by the British leader to Beijing. Instead, Cameron will use a three-day visit to China next week, his first since the Dalai Lama rift, to focus on deepening trade ties with the world's second largest economy, taking with him a delegation of around 100 business people. We have turned a page on that issue," said the source when asked whether Cameron would raise the issue of Tibet during his trip. Cameron, who is likely to visit Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu, had been expected to travel to China last autumn. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine's Yanukovich says he 'outraged' by violence in Kiev Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 10:43 AM PST Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich said on Saturday he was "deeply outraged" by incidents at a pro-Europe rally in the capital Kiev which had led to violent confrontation between protesters and police, and caused injury. Early on Saturday, riot police broke up a rally by protesters in Kiev using batons and stun grenades and an undisclosed number of people were injured. Full Story | Top |
| Indian magazine editor arrested on sexual assault charges Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 10:32 AM PST  By Krishna N Das NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Police arrested the editor-in-chief of an Indian magazine on Saturday over allegations that he had sexually assaulted a woman colleague, in a case that has turned the focus back on sexual violence after the fatal gang rape of a woman last year. The journalist told a superior that Tarun Tejpal, 50-year-old founder of the award-winning weekly Tehelka, had assaulted her twice in a hotel elevator during a conference in the resort state of Goa this month. The investigation into Tejpal, who denies the accusations, has dominated headlines in India for 10 days as news outlets follow every twist and turn, and follows similar accusations by an intern against a retired Supreme Court judge. "He (Tejpal) has formally been arrested and will be produced before a designated court within 24 hours," Dr. O.P. Mishra, Goa's deputy inspector general of police, told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. offers to destroy Syria's chemicals at sea: OPCW Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 09:52 AM PST  The United States has offered to destroy Syrian chemicals on a U.S. ship, the global chemical weapons watchdog said on Saturday, and is looking for a suitable Mediterranean port where processing can be carried out. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has been under pressure to find an alternative plan for the destruction of Syria's poison gas arsenal after Albania backed out of hosting the work. The OPCW said 35 firms had expressed an interest in bidding for commercial contracts by Friday's deadline for the treatment of about 800 tonnes (1 tonne = 1.102 metric tons) of bulk industrial chemicals that are safe to destroy in commercial incinerators. The OPCW said the operation would be carried out on a U.S. vessel at sea using hydrolysis, adding a naval vessel was undergoing modifications to support the operations. Full Story | Top |
| Syrian PM, visiting ally Iran, says government winning civil war Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 09:50 AM PST  By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - Prime Minister Wael Halki said on Saturday Syrian government forces were winning the war with rebels and would not rest while a single enemy fighter remained at large. Maintaining Syria's unyielding response to Western calls for President Bashar al-Assad to step aside, Halki said the era of "threats and intimidation has gone, never to return, while the era of victory and pride is being created now on Syrian soil". He was speaking during a visit to Iran, which has provided military support and billions of dollars in economic aid to Assad during a 2-1/2-year-old civil war which has killed 100,000 people and shows little sign of being halted by diplomacy. Assad, whose forces have consolidated their hold around Damascus and central Syria this year, faces little internal pressure to make concessions to his opponents as long as he maintains military momentum and Iranian support. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine police break up pro-Europe protests, opposition calls for strike Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 09:46 AM PST  By Richard Balmforth and Thomas Grove KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's political opposition on Saturday said it would call a country-wide general strike to force the resignation of President Viktor Yanukovich's government after police used batons and stun grenades to break up pro-Europe protests. Helmeted police bearing white shields stormed an encampment in Kiev's Independence Square where protesters were singing songs and warming themselves by campfires early in the morning, the opposition said. Tension had been building since Friday, when Yanukovich declined to sign a landmark pact with EU leaders at a summit in Lithuania, going back on a pledge to work towards integrating his ex-Soviet republic into the European mainstream. The protests evoked memories of the "Orange Revolution" of 2004-5, led by jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, against sleaze and election fraud which doomed Yanukovich's first bid for the presidency. Full Story | Top |
| Six killed in clashes in Lebanon's Tripoli Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 09:44 AM PST  By Nazih Siddiq TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - Six people were killed in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli on Saturday in exchanges of fire between neighborhoods which support rival sides in Syria's civil war, security and medical sources said. The dead - including a teenage schoolboy, a Palestinian and a Syrian - were from the Sunni Muslim Bab al-Tabbaneh district, whose residents overwhelmingly support the Sunni Muslim rebels battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Thirty-seven people, including nine soldiers, were wounded in the shooting between gunmen in Bab al-Tabbaneh and the adjacent Alawite neighborhood of Jebel Mohsen, which supports the Alawite Syrian leader. Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a Sunni Muslim from Tripoli, held talks with the interior minister and other security officials in the Mediterranean city to discuss how to end the violence, which erupted despite the deployment of soldiers in both rival districts. Full Story | Top |
| At least one killed as Thai anti-government protests turn violent Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 09:39 AM PST  By Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Martin Petty BANGKOK (Reuters) - At least one person was shot dead and 10 were wounded after anti-government protesters clashed with supporters of Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Saturday, the first bloodshed in a week of demonstrations aimed at toppling her administration. Fighting intensified after anti-government protesters attacked a bus they believed was full of government "red shirt" supporters. As darkness fell, gunfire erupted outside a sports stadium in Bangkok's Ramkamhaeng area where about 70,000 red-shirted supporters of Yingluck and her brother, ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, had gathered for a rally. A gunman fired into Ramkamhaeng University, where hundreds of anti-government protesters had retreated after trying to block people from entering the stadium, witnesses said. Full Story | Top |
| East African trade bloc approves monetary union deal Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 09:35 AM PST By Elias Biryabarema KAMPALA (Reuters) - The leaders of five East African countries signed a protocol on Saturday laying the groundwork for a monetary union within 10 years that they expect will expand regional trade. Heads of state of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, which have already signed a common market and a single customs union, say the protocol will allow them to progressively converge their currencies and increase commerce. In the run-up to achieving a common currency, the East African Community (EAC) nations aim to harmonize monetary and fiscal policies and establish a common central bank. Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda already present their budgets simultaneously every June. Full Story | Top |
| Truck drivers block French roads in "ecotax" protest Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 09:34 AM PST  Several thousand truck drivers blocked roads across France on Saturday, causing severe disruption to traffic in protest against a new environmental tax on heavy goods vehicles. The protest is the latest effort to force the French government to cancel the so-called "ecotax" through which it aims to raise more than 1 billion euros ($1.38 billion) a year to finance mostly rail infrastructure projects. On the main highways, truck drivers let cars through but blocked foreign trucks, forcing them to stand idle on the side of the road. "Until this measure is cancelled, we will remain mobilized," said Vincent Tardet from the European Rail Transport Organisation (OTRE) which set up some 26 blockades on France's main road arteries. Full Story | Top |
| Eight dead as police helicopter crashes into Scottish pub Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 09:06 AM PST By Russell Cheyne GLASGOW, Scotland (Reuters) - Eight people were killed and 14 others seriously injured when a police helicopter crashed into the roof of a packed Glasgow pub, trapping many inside in choking dust and debris, Scottish police said on Saturday, Witnesses said the helicopter dropped from the sky like a stone onto the busy Clutha Pub in Scotland's biggest city on Friday night while more than 100 people were crammed inside, listening to a live music concert. The helicopter crew - two police officers and the civilian pilot - were among the dead and the others were discovered inside the wreckage of the building, Chief Constable of Police Scotland Stephen House told reporters. The 12-metre (40 foot) helicopter - a twin-engine Eurocopter EC135 T2, made by a subsidiary of EADS - spiraled into the pub in the center of Glasgow, destroying part of the roof. "Until the helicopter is out of the way we won't know what ... is going on underneath." Immediately after the crash, revelers caked in dust and blood rushed out into the street. Full Story | Top |
| One killed, at least 10 wounded in Thai political violence - hospitals Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 08:19 AM PST One person was killed and at least 10 were wounded after violence flared near a Bangkok sports stadium hosting a rally by thousands of supporters of embattled Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, according to hospital staff. At least five people received gunshot wounds and five others were injured by knives or rocks, officials at the nearby Ramkamhaeng and the Dr Panya General Hospital told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's draft constitution enshrines army role in politics Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 07:49 AM PST  Egypt's new constitution, according to a draft text completed on Saturday nearly five months after the army deposed an Islamist president, will bolster the military's hand and ban religious parties. The constitution, expected to be put to a referendum in December, is part of an army-planned political transition meant to lead to parliamentary and presidential elections next year. "In the early hours of the morning the assembly (reached) an overall consensus over the constitution articles," its chairman, former Arab League chief Amr Moussa, told a news conference. The 50-member constituent assembly later began voting to approve the draft, article by article, and once this process is complete it will submit the document to interim President Adli Mansour, who will set a date for the referendum. Full Story | Top |
| Obamacare website faces crucial weekend after technology overhaul Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 07:38 AM PST  By Roberta Rampton and Sharon Begley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans are getting their first look on Saturday at whether a five-week, round-the-clock technology overhaul has made it easier to use the troubled website that is the backbone of President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare overhaul. The White House had pledged that HealthCare.gov, which has been plagued by errors, outages, and slow speeds since its disastrous October 1 launch - would be working for most people this weekend. Fixing the crisis, one of the biggest of Obama's presidency, has enormous political stakes for the administration and its Democratic allies who are heading into congressional elections next year. The administration said on Saturday that 90 percent of website users can now create an account on the system, which is meant to help millions of people sign up for new health insurance plans. Full Story | Top |
| Leading Egyptian activist turns himself in Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 07:14 AM PST  Ahmad Maher, a symbol of the popular uprising that ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011, turned himself in to the authorities on Saturday after an order was issued for his arrest for defying a new law restricting demonstrations. The protest law, passed a week ago by the army-backed interim government, has provoked an outcry among rights groups. The army deposed elected Islamist president Mohamed Mursi on July 3, following mass protests against his rule, and the country has seen widespread unrest since. On Thursday, police arrested activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, also known for his role in the anti-Mubarak uprising. Full Story | Top |
| Unforgotten fighter of Korean war: U.S. pensioner a POW at 85 Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 06:37 AM PST  By Ju-min Park and James Pearson SEOUL (Reuters) - As autumn descended on a Korean countryside devastated by three years of intense war, a group of anti-communist guerrillas presented U.S. serviceman Merrill Edward Newman with a gold ring. He returned to North Korea last month as an American tourist and was snatched by authorities from his plane moments before it was due to depart for Beijing. The North Korean regime has nourished memories of the 1950-53 Korean War as the inspiration for the country's identity and acts as if the conflict is still happening. No peace treaty was signed between the United States, South Korea and North Korea. Full Story | Top |
| S.Africans call online for Zuma's ouster after report on spending Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 05:54 AM PST  Thousands of South Africans on Saturday called online for the impeachment of President Jacob Zuma, after a newspaper revealed a government document detailing the use of public funds for lavish upgrades to his private home. The Mail and Guardian weekly said on Friday a provisional report by South Africa's top anti-corruption watchdog found Zuma had derived "substantial" personal gain from a $21 million "security upgrade" to his home, including a swimming pool and a cattle enclosure. The leaked document by the Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, entitled "Opulence on a Grand Scale", recommended that Zuma repay some of the public funds from the improvements to his compound at Nkandla in the hills of KwaZulu-Natal province. The report of Madonsela's investigation sparked outrage on social media, with prominent campaigner Zackie Achmat setting up an online petition calling for Zuma's ouster that had garnered 8,200 supporters a little over 24 hours after the news broke. Full Story | Top |
| South Africans call online for Zuma's ouster after report on spending Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 05:43 AM PST  Thousands of South Africans on Saturday called online for the impeachment of President Jacob Zuma, after a newspaper revealed a government document detailing the use of public funds for lavish upgrades to his private home. The Mail and Guardian weekly said on Friday a provisional report by South Africa's top anti-corruption watchdog found Zuma had derived "substantial" personal gain from a $21 million "security upgrade" to his home, including a swimming pool and a cattle enclosure. The leaked document by the Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, entitled "Opulence on a Grand Scale", recommended that Zuma repay some of the public funds from the improvements to his compound at Nkandla in the hills of KwaZulu-Natal province. The report of Madonsela's investigation sparked outrage on social media, with prominent campaigner Zackie Achmat setting up an online petition calling for Zuma's ouster that had garnered 8,200 supporters a little over 24 hours after the news broke. Full Story | Top |
| China, India spar over disputed border Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 05:26 AM PST  NEW DELHI/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China on Saturday urged India not to aggravate problems on the border shared by the two nations, a day after the Indian president toured a disputed region and called it an integral part of the country. The two countries, which fought a brief border war in 1962, only last month signed a pact to ensure that differences on the border do not spark a confrontation. But Indian President Pranab Mukherjee's visit to the state of Arunachal Pradesh in the remote eastern stretch of the Himalayas that China claims as its own provoked a fresh exchange of words. "We hope that India will proceed along with China, protecting our broad relationship, and will not take any measures that could complicate the problem, and together we can protect peace and security in the border regions," China's official news agency, Xinhua, quoted Qin Gang, a spokesman of the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as saying. Full Story | Top |
| Aid workers in Afghanistan increasingly under threat: U.N. Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 05:22 AM PST Aid workers in Afghanistan are increasingly under threat, the United Nations said on Saturday, calling it a worrying trend as most U.S.-led troops prepare to leave the country at the end of next year. "I am extremely concerned with this trend at a time when the country is in the midst of a difficult transition that may lead to increased humanitarian needs," U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in Afghanistan, Mark Bowden, said in a statement. Bowden's comments followed the execution of nine aid workers in two separate incidents in Afghanistan this month. According to the Aid Worker Security Database, 73 humanitarian workers have been killed, kidnapped or injured in Afghanistan since the start of the year, more than recorded for the whole of 2012. Full Story | Top |
| Ukrainian protesters find refuge from police in Kiev monastery Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 04:30 AM PST By Thomas Grove KIEV (Reuters) - Around 100 Ukrainian pro-EU protesters took refuge from police batons and biting cold on Saturday inside the walls of a central Kiev monastery. With a barricade of benches pushed up against a gate to keep police out, protesters - who had rallied against President Viktor Yanukovich's decision to reject a pact with the European Union - checked their wounds in the pre-dawn light. "They gave us tea to warm us up, told us to keep our spirits strong and told us not to fight evil with evil," said Roman Tsado, 25, a native of Kiev, who said police beat him on his legs as they cleared the pro-EU rally. The main protest, on Kiev's central Independence Square, swelled on Friday evening to nearly 10,000 people as news spread of Yanukovich's decision to orient Ukraine back towards former Soviet master Russia. Full Story | Top |
| French parliament backs reform of law on prostitution Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 04:28 AM PST  The French parliament early on Saturday backed a reform of the country's prostitution law that will impose a 1,500-euro fine on anyone paying for sex. The bill will give France some of the toughest legislation on prostitution in Europe, similar to that of Sweden. Previously, buying and selling sex for money was not illegal in France but the act of soliciting was, as was pimping. Movie stars like Catherine Deneuve, who played a middle-class housewife who chooses to prostitute herself in the 1960s film "Belle de Jour", is one of several dozen celebrities who have signed a petition against the law. Full Story | Top |
| Britain's Cameron 'turns page' on Dalai Lama row with China visit Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 04:27 AM PST  By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - Britain has put a diplomatic rift with China over the Dalai Lama behind it and Prime Minister David Cameron has no plans to meet Tibet's spiritual leader again, a senior source in his office said ahead of a visit by the British leader to Beijing. Instead, Cameron will use a three-day visit to China next week, his first since the Dalai Lama rift, to focus on deepening trade ties with the world's second largest economy, taking with him a delegation of around 100 business people. We have turned a page on that issue," said the source when asked whether Cameron would raise the issue of Tibet during his trip. "It's about shifting UK relations up a gear and looking to the future." Foreign trips often pose a public relations problem for the British leader as he has to balance his policy of helping Britain win what he calls the global economic "race" with speaking out about any human rights concerns. Full Story | Top |
| Guinea frees two BSGR officials in mining corruption probe Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 04:11 AM PST Guinea has released two officials of BSGR, the mining arm of Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz's business empire, after detaining them for seven months for alleged involvement in a corrupt mining deal. Ibrahima Sory Toure, a vice president of BSGR in Guinea, and Issaga Bangoura, a security official, were released on bail on Friday evening, a government source and the company's lawyer in Conakry told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| After years on the sidelines, New York's liberals retaking control Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 04:11 AM PST  By Victoria Cavaliere NEW YORK (Reuters) - With Bill de Blasio taking office as mayor in January, New York City appears poised for a resurgence of liberal policies. After 20 years of Republican leadership, not only will America's largest city have the most liberal mayor in a generation, helping him implement change will be a progressive-leaning City Council and a longtime liberal ally in the new public advocate. The city was governed for the last 12 years by Michael Bloomberg, a political independent who was first elected as a Republican, and for eight years before that by Republican Rudolph Giuliani. To observers as well as Democratic legislators, the last election marked a major change in New York City politics, with a new breed of highly liberal politicians ready to enact a series of progressive policies that would have been dead on arrival under Bloomberg or his predecessor Giuliani. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine opposition to call general strike: opposition leader Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 03:51 AM PST KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's political opposition said on Saturday it would set up a headquarters of national resistance following clashes between police and pro-Europe protesters and had begun to organize a country-wide strike. "We have taken a common decision to form a headquarters of national resistance and we have begun preparations for an all-Ukraine national strike," former economy minister Arseny Yatsenyuk, one of three opposition leaders, told journalists. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pakistan promises to help Afghans meet former Taliban chief Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 03:48 AM PST  By Mirwais Harooni and Hamid Shalizi KABUL (Reuters) - Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif promised Afghanistan on Saturday that he would help arrange further meetings between Afghan officials and a former Taliban commander as part of renewed efforts to revive a defunct peace process. Pakistan announced it would release the insurgent group's former second-in-command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, in September. Afghan officials believe he still retains enough influence within the Taliban to help rekindle peace talks. In a first such meeting, an Afghan delegation travelled to Pakistan about 10 days ago to meet the former commander, who remains under the close supervision of his Pakistani minders. Full Story | Top |
| North Korea showcases detained U.S. pensioner as war criminal Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 03:42 AM PST  By Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea accused a detained U.S. veteran on Saturday of killing civilians during the Korean War 60 years ago and showed a video of the 85-year-old making a full confession and apology as if the battles are still raging. The North's KCNA news agency said Merrill E. Newman, a former special forces officer, was a mastermind of clandestine operations and had confessed to being "guilty of a long list of indelible crimes against DPRK government and Korean people." In the patchy video, Newman appears composed and is shown reading aloud from a handwritten statement dated Nov 9, 2013 in a wood-paneled meeting room. "I realize that I cannot be forgiven for my offensives (offenses) but I beg for pardon on my knees by apologizing for my offensives (offenses) sincerely toward the DPRK government and the Korean people and I want not punish me (I wish not to be punished)," Newman, who has a heart rhythm disorder, was quoted as saying by KCNA. DPRK is short for the North's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Full Story | Top |
| Somalia parliament starts debate on motion to impeach PM Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 02:59 AM PST  By Abdi Sheikh MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's parliament begun on Saturday debating a no-confidence motion against the prime minister who has fallen out with the president. Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon Saaid has said he welcomed parliament's intervention to settle the disagreement with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. Saaid has not disclosed any details of the dispute but legislators say it is over the composition of a new cabinet. ... Full Story | Top |
| Police shoot dead Palestinian in Israeli town Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 01:58 AM PST An Israeli policeman shot dead a Palestinian in the town of Petah Tikva near Tel Aviv on Saturday after he tried to attack the arresting force, a police spokesman said. A paramilitary Border Police unit was searching for Palestinians who did not have a permit to stay in Israel when one of them tried to stab a policeman before he suffered a fatal gunshot wound, spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Some Palestinians from the nearby Israeli-occupied West Bank who do not have a permit to work in the Jewish state enter illegally looking for work in the more lucrative Israeli job market. Israeli forces frequently apprehend Palestinians who cross into Israel illegally. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. airlines advised to give China flight plans over new defense zone Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 01:35 AM PST  By Lesley Wroughton and Tim Kelly WASHINGTON/TOKYO (Reuters) - The United States advised its commercial airlines to notify Chinese authorities of flight plans when travelling through an air defense zone that Beijing established a week ago over the East China Sea, ratcheting up regional tensions. The United States said it expected U.S. carriers to operate in line with so-called notices to airmen issued by foreign countries, adding, however, that the decision did "not indicate U.S. government acceptance of China's requirements. The advice is in contrast with America's close ally Japan, where the two major airlines have agreed with the Japanese government to fly through the zone without notifying China. A U.S. administration official said China's action appeared to be a unilateral attempt to change the status quo in the East China Sea, which could "increase the risk of miscalculation, confrontation and accidents". Full Story | Top |
| Benin says frees Nigerian ex-militant after Jonathan intervenes Friday, Nov 29, 2013 11:32 PM PST  Benin freed a former militant leader from Nigeria's oil-rich Delta region on Friday after a personal intervention by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, a government spokesman said. Mujahid Dobubo-Asari had been arrested in the West African nation's capital Cotonou on Tuesday. Like Jonathan, Asari is from the Ijaw ethnic group. He is best known for staging attacks on oil infrastructure in the swampy creeks of OPEC member Nigeria that drove up oil prices to record highs in 2004. Full Story | Top |
| Zimbabwe's central bank chief steps down, no successor yet Friday, Nov 29, 2013 11:28 PM PST  Zimbabwe's reserve bank governor Gideon Gono, who put the bank's printing press into overdrive to keep pace with hyper-inflation, has left the central bank after completing his final five-year term on Friday. At the height of the southern African country's decade-long economic crisis, Zimbabweans were plagued by acute shortages of foreign currency and basic goods, while inflation spiked to 500 billion percent in 2008. By that time, funding for most government departments was coming via the central bank and official government records show that it accumulated more than $500 million in debts during Gono's tenure. Some companies have alleged the central bank used foreign currency from accounts of companies and non-governmental organisations held with the central bank. Full Story | Top |
| Malian separatist rebels end ceasefire after clashes Friday, Nov 29, 2013 11:25 PM PST  By Adama Diarra BAMAKO (Reuters) - Separatist Tuareg rebels said on Friday they were ending a five-month-old ceasefire with Mali's government and taking up arms following violence in the northern city of Kidal. "The political and military wings of the Azawad (MNLA, MAA and HCUA) declare the lifting of the ceasefire with the central government in Bamako," said a statement by Attaye Ag Mohamed, one of the founders of the MNLA groups. A French-led military offensive routed the Islamists but tension remains between the central government and Tuareg separatists demanding an independent homeland they call Azawad. Full Story | Top |
| Fights, store evacuation mar U.S. holiday shopping rush Friday, Nov 29, 2013 10:08 PM PST  The post-Thanksgiving shopping rush sparked incidents of violence across the United States as a police officer was injured breaking up a fight, a shopper was shot in the leg over a TV and a Walmart was evacuated, according to police and media reports. The holiday shopping incidents also included a suspected shoplifter shot by police in a Chicago suburb and a woman spitting on another woman's child in an argument over baby clothes. Full Story | Top |
| Honduras's defiant left asks for presidential election recount Friday, Nov 29, 2013 10:06 PM PST  By Gustavo Palencia TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (Reuters) - The party of Honduras' defeated leftist presidential candidate Xiomara Castro demanded a full vote recount on Friday, offering examples of poll fraud that supporters say robbed her of victory this week when conservative Juan Hernandez was declared the winner. Hernandez, who is head of Congress and enjoys close ties with incumbent president Porfirio Lobo, was declared winner on Monday, promising to tame violence that has made Honduras the world's murder capital. Castro, wife of former ousted leader Manuel Zelaya, has refused to accept the results, setting the stage for a protracted conflict. On Friday, Castro's Liberty and Refoundation Party, demanded a full recount of 16,135 ballot boxes, arguing that certificates signed by the parties and submitted to election authorities with local vote tallies had been falsified. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. commercial airlines advised to notify China of flight plans Friday, Nov 29, 2013 09:08 PM PST The United States on Friday advised U.S. commercial airlines to notify Chinese authorities of flight plans over the East China Sea although a U.S. administration official said that did not mean Washington accepted China's new rules. The directive came as tensions escalated over disputed islands in the East China Sea and China scrambled jets on Friday in response to two U.S. spy planes and 10 Japanese aircraft entering its new air defense zone. China last week announced that foreign aircraft passing through the new air defense zone should identify themselves to the Chinese authorities. "The U.S. government generally expects that U.S. carriers operating internationally will operate consistent with NOTAMs (Notices to Airmen) issued by foreign countries," the State Department said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| China to question movie director's agent on family planning allegations Friday, Nov 29, 2013 08:39 PM PST  Authorities will question the agent of acclaimed film director Zhang Yimou after the director went missing following allegations he had fathered seven children, a breach of China's one-child policy, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The agent for Zhang, the director of epics "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers", was summoned to the eastern Chinese city of Wuxi to answer allegations against him, Xinhua said late on Friday, citing the local family planning bureau. The Wuxi family planning commission "has done everything possible to contact Zhang Yimou and Chen Ting and dispatched a work team that rushed to Beijing to look for Zhang Yimou, but there were no results, they could not find (him)", Xinhua said. Full Story | Top |
| Senior Chinese official sacked in corruption probe Friday, Nov 29, 2013 08:16 PM PST China's Communist Party has fired a senior provincial official for "suspected serious disciplinary violations", the official Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday, making him the latest target in acrackdown on corruption. Guo Youming, the vice governor of the central province of Hubei, was removed from his post after China's corruption watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), announced a probe into the official this week. The Xinhua report, which cited the ruling party's central Organisation Department, gave no further details, but the term discipline violations is generally used to denote corruption. Guo's dismissal comes a day after China launched a pilot program to make new officials disclose their assets as part of an anti-graft campaign, a step critics say is critical to weed out official corruption. Full Story | Top |
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