Friday, December 7, 2012

Strong quake hits off Japan near Fukushima disaster zone

Strong quake hits off Japan near Fukushima disaster zone

Strong quake hits off Japan near Fukushima disaster zone

Posted: 07 Dec 2012 01:19 AM PST

TOKYO (Reuters) - A strong earthquake centered off the coast of northeastern Japan shook buildings as far away as Tokyo on Friday and led to a tsunami warning for coastal areas. The earthquake hit in the same area as a devastating quake and tsunami in March last year that killed nearly 20,000 people and triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years. The quake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.3, the U.S. Geological Survey said, adding that there was no risk of a widespread tsunami. There were no immediate reports of death or injury. ...

Philippines buries dead, typhoon toll hits 418

Posted: 06 Dec 2012 10:53 PM PST

Handout provided by the Philippine Army 10th Infantry Division shows an aerial view of damaged houses caused by flash floods in Compostela Valley province, southern PhilippinesNEW BATAAN, Philippines (Reuters) - Residents in the southern Philippines buried their dead on Friday even as rescue workers continued scouring remote areas for survivors of Typhoon Bopha, the nation's strongest storm this year, which killed 418 people and left nearly as many missing. Officials in Compostela Valley, one of the worst hit provinces on the resource-rich island of Mindanao, were considering mass graves for unclaimed bodies killed by the typhoon which hit two days ago. ...

China protests U.S. comments on Tibet, says "disgusting"

Posted: 07 Dec 2012 01:21 AM PST

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Foreign Ministry lambasted the United States on Friday for "disgusting" comments by a U.S. official on the human rights situation in Tibet, saying it had prompted them to file a formal diplomatic complaint with Washington. Maria Otero, United States Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, said in a statement on Wednesday that tensions in Tibetan areas, including self-immolations, had been exacerbated by tough Chinese policies and controls. ...

Russia, U.S. talk as Syria events "accelerate on the ground"

Posted: 07 Dec 2012 01:14 AM PST

A Syrian refugee woman holds her son as she stands at the window of their friend's house at the Syrian-Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar, Sanliurfa provinceBEIRUT/DUBLIN (Reuters) - The two superpowers divided by Syria's civil war met head to head on Thursday, with signs emerging that Russia might curb its support for President Bashar al-Assad and Washington saying events were gathering speed on the ground. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Dublin on the sidelines of a security conference, at a time when rebel advances have brought the 20-month war to the doorstep of the capital Damascus. ...

North Korean leader cracking down on dissent, South says

Posted: 07 Dec 2012 12:00 AM PST

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un waves as he visits military units on islands in the most southwest of PyongyangSEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's new young leader is using an imminent rocket launch to bolster his prestige internally and crack down on dissent amid signs the transition of power is not going as smoothly as planned, a top South Korean official said on Friday. The isolated North is to launch a rocket carrying what it says is a satellite between December 10-22 in a move that has been condemned by the United States, South Korea and Japan as they believe it is designed to test technology for a long-range missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead. ...

Syrian army reinforcements on edge of contested Damascus suburbs

Posted: 07 Dec 2012 12:19 AM PST

Residents walk near buildings damaged after a Syrian Air Force fighter jet fired missiles at the town of Ras al-AinBEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian army fired rockets into and reinforced its positions around two Damascus suburbs on Friday, resident opposition activists said, as it battles to isolate the centre of the capital from recent rebel offensives. Opposition activists said forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad had sent troops backed up by tanks to Moadamiah and Daraya, suburbs to the south west of the city that are close to a large military airport. ...

Divided Italian parties must reassure markets: OECD

Posted: 07 Dec 2012 12:42 AM PST

Italian PM Monti gestures during a media conference at the Chigi palace in RomeROME (Reuters) - Italy should reassure markets that its economic reforms will not be reversed after Silvio Berlusconi's PDL party withdrew support for the government, OECD chief economist Pier Carlo Padoan said on Friday. "The Italian economy is certainly weak, the timeframe for emerging from recession is getting longer," Padoan told the Corriere della Sera newspaper. "Given there is this fragility, the main parties should give clear signals that the agenda of the Monti government will continue. ...

U.S. warships moving to monitor North Korea's planned rocket launch

Posted: 06 Dec 2012 09:30 PM PST

File picture shows a soldier standing guard in front of a rocket sitting on a launch pad at the West Sea Satellite Launch Site, during a guided media tour by North Korean authoritiesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is shifting warships into position to track and possibly defend against a planned North Korean rocket launch while urging Pyongyang to cancel its second such attempt this year, the head of the U.S. Pacific Command said on Thursday. Admiral Samuel Locklear, who commands U.S. forces in the Asia-Pacific region, said warships were being moved to the best locations to track the rocket during its launch and flight, which North Korea has set for sometime between December 10 and 22. ...

Exclusive: U.S. likely to extend Iran sanction waivers-sources

Posted: 06 Dec 2012 11:27 PM PST

A GENERAL VIEW OF NEKA OIL TERMINALS COMPANY IN IRAN.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is likely to exempt India, South Korea, Turkey and others from Iranian financial sanctions for another six months on Friday as a reward for reducing crude purchases from the Islamic republic, two U.S. government sources said. Oil shipments by Iran have more than halved in 2012 in the face of U.S. and European Union sanctions aimed at cutting Tehran's foreign exchange earnings and funding for a nuclear program they suspect is designed for a military purpose. Iran denies that the program is for nuclear weapons. The U.S. ...

Strong earthquake strikes off northeastern Japan

Posted: 07 Dec 2012 01:25 AM PST

A strong earthquake struck Friday off the coast of northeastern Japan in the same region that was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami last year. A city in the region reported that a small tsunami had hit, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

APNewsBreak: Dhaka factory lost fire clearance

Posted: 07 Dec 2012 12:37 AM PST

FILE - In this Saturday, Nov. 24, 2012 file photo, Bangladeshi firefighters battle a fire at a garment factory in the Savar neighborhood in Dhaka, Bangladesh, late. A Dhaka fire official said the Tazreen factory's fire safety certification had expired on June 30, and fire officials refused to renew it because the building did not have the proper safety arrangements. The factory did not have any fire exits for its 1,400 workers, many of whom became trapped by the blaze. Investigators said the death toll would have been far lower if there had been even a single emergency exit. (AP Photo/Hasan Raza)A Bangladeshi garment factory that was producing clothes for Wal-Mart, Disney and other major Western companies had lost its fire safety certification in June, five months before a blaze in the facility killed 112 workers, a fire official told The Associated Press.

Egypt's president offers nothing to defuse crisis

Posted: 06 Dec 2012 04:40 PM PST

Egyptian protesters stand behind barbed wire on a road leading to the presidential palace during a protest against Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012. The Egyptian army has deployed tanks outside the presidential palace in Cairo following clashes between supporters and opponents of Mohammed Morsi that left several people dead and hundreds wounded. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)An angry Mohammed Morsi refused Thursday to call off a referendum on a disputed constitution that has sparked Egypt's worst political crisis in two years, drawing chants of "topple the regime!" from protesters who waved their shoes in contempt.

Images: Snow may have slowed NKorea launch prep

Posted: 06 Dec 2012 11:45 PM PST

This Dec. 4, 2012 satellite image taken by GeoEye and annotated and distributed by North Korea Tech and 38 North shows the Sohae launching station in Tongchang-ri, North Korea. New satellite images show that heavy snowfall may have slowed North Korean rocket launch preparations but that Pyongyang could still be ready for liftoff starting Monday, Dec. 10. This image was shared with the AP by the 38 North and North Korea Tech websites, which collaborate on analysis of the satellite imagery. (AP Photo/GeoEye via North Korea Tech and 38 North) MANDATORY CREDITNew satellite images indicate that snow may have slowed North Korea's rocket launch preparations, but that Pyongyang could still be ready for liftoff starting Monday.

Ghana election, test of democratic reputation

Posted: 07 Dec 2012 12:26 AM PST

Supporters of Ghanian President John Dramani Mahama hold up one finger to symbolize the ruling party's hope that Mahama can win in the first round, as thousands gathered for Mahama's final campaign rally ahead of Friday's presidential election, in Accra, Ghana, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012. After five coups and decades of stagnation, the West African nation of 25 million is now a pacesetter for the continent's efforts to become democratic. Ghanaians will go to the polls on Friday to choose between four candidates, including Mahama, a former vice president who assumed the top post in July after the death of president John Atta Mills, and former foreign minister Nana Akufo-Addo who lost the presidency by less than 1 percent in 2008. (AP Photo/Gabriela Barnuevo)Voters in Ghana were selecting their next president and a 275-seat parliament in elections Friday, solidifying the West African nation's reputation as a beacon of democracy in the region.

Money in focus as UN climate talks enter last day

Posted: 07 Dec 2012 01:25 AM PST

FILE - In this Sunday, Jan. 16, 2011 file photo, Beam Down Pilot project, a joint pilot project of the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Japan's Cosmo Oil Company and the Tokyo Institute of Technology, takes the conventional concentrated solar power design and literally turns it to on its head at Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Sunday Jan.16, 2011. The dean of a research institute at the core of Abu Dhabi's green-energy city said Sunday the government remains firmly committed to renewable power after recent shifts in the ambitious project's goals. Masdar City was originally conceived as a self-contained "carbon-neutral" community of 40,000 residents and even more commuters where cars would be banned and waste and water would be recycled.(AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)A dispute over money clouded U.N. climate talks Friday, as rich and poor countries sparred over funds meant to help the developing world cover the rising costs of mitigating global warming and adapting to it.

Death toll from Philippine typhoon climbs past 500

Posted: 07 Dec 2012 12:57 AM PST

A survivor of Tuesday's devastating typhoon is carried into a makeshift clinic after being rescued Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012, in New Bataan township, Compostela Valley in the southern Philippines. The powerful typhoon that washed away emergency shelters, a military camp and possibly entire families in the southern Philippines has killed hundreds of people with nearly 400 missing, authorities said Thursday. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)Rescuers were digging through mud and debris Friday to retrieve more bodies strewn across a farming valley in the southern Philippines by a powerful typhoon. The death toll from the storm has surpassed 500, with more than 400 people missing.

Mugabe loyalists converge for election strategy

Posted: 07 Dec 2012 01:25 AM PST

Zimbabwe president's loyalists have converged for an annual party convention in the provincial city of Gweru to map out a winning election strategy to end the nation's four-year-old coalition.

AP Exclusive: China Nobel wife speaks on detention

Posted: 06 Dec 2012 05:29 PM PST

Liu Xia, wife of 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, reacts emotionally to an unexpected visit by journalists from The Associated Press at her home in Beijing, China, on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012. Liu trembled uncontrollably and cried Thursday as she described how her confinement under house arrest has been absurd and emotionally draining in the two years since her jailed activist husband was named a Nobel Peace laureate. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)Stunned that reporters were able to visit her, Liu Xia trembled uncontrollably and cried as she described how absurd and emotionally draining her confinement under house arrest has been in the two years since her jailed activist husband, Liu Xiaobo, was named a Nobel Peace laureate.

German central bank cuts 2013 growth forecast

Posted: 07 Dec 2012 12:31 AM PST

Germany's central bank has sharply cut its 2013 growth forecast to 0.4 percent from 1.6 percent amid continuing concerns about the European economy.

How deadly would chemical weapons in Syria be?

Posted: 06 Dec 2012 01:43 PM PST

Serious concerns have been raised about chemical weapons in Syria as unnamed US officials on Wednesday told NBC News that Syrian forces have loaded sarin, a deadly nerve gas, into bombs that can be dropped by planes.

Egypt's anti-Morsi protests spread beyond Cairo

Posted: 06 Dec 2012 01:27 PM PST

Violence erupting in the capital between supporters of President Mohamed Morsi and his political opposition is being mirrored outside of Cairo, revealing the extent of divisions across the country as the political crisis over a proposed new constitution continued to spiral today.

Merkel meets Netanyahu as Israel and Germany hit rocky patch

Posted: 06 Dec 2012 12:18 PM PST

With German-Israeli relations unusually tense, Chancellor Angela Merkel is scrambling today in an apparent effort to assure Israel that the two are still friends as usual.

In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood's 'trial of power'

Posted: 06 Dec 2012 10:24 AM PST

This morning I stumbled across a long story I wrote about the Muslim Brotherhood's struggles with the Mubarak regime in June 2005 and found plenty of resonance for events today (as well as some personal chagrin in the fact that I'd used the phrase "Arab spring" back then).

McAfee's rise and downfall via technology

Posted: 06 Dec 2012 09:14 AM PST

Computer protection guru John McAfee's high-profile run from the law is over, and it may have been a simple slip in digital security that helped lead to his downfall.

Human rights report names names in Kashmir, invokes international law

Posted: 06 Dec 2012 09:04 AM PST

Two prominent human rights groups in India-administered Kashmir Thursday accused New Delhi of institutionally blocking justice in thousands of cases of crimes like enforced disappearance, killings, rape, and torture allegedly committed by its forces in the disputed region during the past two decades.

Japanese chef dishes on North Korean leader and missile launch

Posted: 06 Dec 2012 08:41 AM PST

The Japanese chef who cooked for North Korean leaders for 13 years – before finding a pretext to return to Japan – believes North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has no desire to upset other countries by sanctioning the firing of a long-range missile later this month.

Moving Mali forward

Posted: 06 Dec 2012 07:57 AM PST

Every year since 2001 the Festival au Desert has been held near Timbuktu, drawing musicians and listeners from around the world – until now. Next year's event, according to its Website, is planned as a "Festival in Exile" held in stages in various other countries.

Tanks deploy to Egypt's presidential palace amid lull in deadly protests

Posted: 06 Dec 2012 05:32 AM PST

• A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

Syrian refugees decamp for tough life in Jordan's cities

Posted: 06 Dec 2012 04:30 AM PST

Sitting cross-legged on the floor of her chilly, unfurnished home, a Syrian widow explains how she sneaked out of Jordan's Za'atari refugee camp. It cost 50,000 Syrian pounds, about $700, to pay someone from outside to sneak her past the camp's security. She was allowed to pay half up-front, and had a relative in Jordan who could lend her the money.

A wary Iraq weighs its options as Syrian civil war deepens

Posted: 06 Dec 2012 04:00 AM PST

As Syria implodes, shock waves from the sectarian conflict are being felt in Baghdad, where a beleaguered Iraqi government is struggling to maintain a hard-won but fragile stability.
Posted by Harshad at 1:48 AM

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