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| U.S. airlines give China flight plans for new defense zone Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 11:50 AM PST  By Marina Lopes and Lesley Wroughton NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two of the biggest U.S. airlines, American and Delta, have notified Chinese authorities of flight plans when travelling through an air defense zone Beijing has declared over the East China Sea, in line with U.S. government advice. The United States said on Friday it expected U.S. carriers to operate in line with so-called notices to airmen issued by foreign countries, although it added that the decision did "not indicate U.S. government acceptance of China's requirements. Airline industry officials said the U.S. government generally expects that U.S. carriers operating internationally to comply with notices issued by foreign countries. In contrast, two major airlines in Japan, America's close ally, have agreed with the Japanese government that they would fly through the zone without notifying China. 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Mozambique Airlines plane crashes in Namibia, killing 33 Saturday, Nov 30, 2013 08:33 AM PST By Servaas van den Bosch WINDHOEK (Reuters) - A Mozambique Airlines plane en route to Angola crashed in a game park in northeast Namibia, killing all 33 people on board, Namibian police said on Saturday. Flight TM 470 left Maputo on Friday for the Angolan capital Luanda with 27 passengers and six crew when it lost contact with air traffic controllers, the national carrier said in a statement. Namibian Police Force Deputy Commissioner Willy Bampton said rescue workers had found the burned-out wreckage of the aircraft in the dense bush of Bwabwata National Park, near the borders with Angola and Botswana. 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
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