Wednesday, January 2, 2013

At least 61 crushed to death in Ivory Coast stampede

At least 61 crushed to death in Ivory Coast stampede

At least 61 crushed to death in Ivory Coast stampede

Posted: 01 Jan 2013 12:38 PM PST

Shoes are seen along a street in Plateau district where a stampede occurred after a New Year's Eve fireworks display in AbidjanABIDJAN (Reuters) - At least 61 people were crushed to death in a stampede after a New Year's Eve fireworks display at a stadium in Ivory Coast's main city Abidjan early on Tuesday, officials said. Witnesses said police had tried to control crowds around the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium following the celebrations, triggering a panic in which scores were trampled. "The estimate we can give right now is 49 people hospitalized ... and 61 people dead," said the chief of staff of Abidjan's fire department Issa Sacko. ...

Rival Sudans hold summit on Friday, signal concessions

Posted: 01 Jan 2013 01:26 PM PST

Sudan's President al-Bashir waves next to Somali President Mohamud during inauguration of Roseires Dam's height increase in DamazinKHARTOUM/JUBA (Reuters) - The leaders of Sudan and South Sudan will meet on Friday to discuss how to improve border security and resume vital oil flows, both sides said on Tuesday as the feuding African neighbors signaled possible concessions. The countries, which fought one of Africa's longest civil wars ending with a peace deal in 2005, signaled concessions ahead of the summit. Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and South Sudan's Salva Kiir accepted an invitation from Ethiopia to meet in Addis Ababa, spokesmen for both governments said. ...

Egypt satirist faces probe for insulting president

Posted: 01 Jan 2013 10:43 AM PST

Egypt's President-elect Mohamed Mursi speaks during his first televised address to the nation at the Egyptian Television headquarters in CairoCAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian satirist who made fun of President Mohamed Mursi on television will be investigated by prosecutors following an accusation that he undermined the leader's standing, a judicial source said on Tuesday. Bassem Youssef's case will increase worries about freedom of speech in the post-Hosni Mubarak era, especially when the country's new constitution includes provisions criticized by rights activists for, among other things, forbidding insults. ...

Analysis: Young, urban Indians find political voice after student's gang rape

Posted: 01 Jan 2013 01:03 PM PST

File photo of demonstrators shouting slogans as they are surrounded by the police during a protest rally in New DelhiNEW DELHI (Reuters) - When Preeti Joshi heard of the gang rape of a fellow student, she joined a movement of thousands of outraged young Indians who have taken to the streets of New Delhi almost every day protesting for justice and security for women. Beaten and raped by five men and a teenager on a moving bus in the capital on December 16, the 23-year-old student died from her injuries on Saturday, her plight shaking the conscience of many urban middle class Indians who consider gender rights as important as poverty alleviation. ...

Iraq PM warns Sunni protesters, makes small concession

Posted: 01 Jan 2013 02:52 PM PST

Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki speaks during the opening ceremony of the Defence University for Military Studies inside BaghdadBAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Shi'ite prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, has warned he will not tolerate Sunni anti-government rallies indefinitely, but made a concession to their demands by promising to free some women prisoners. Thousands of Sunnis have been taking to the streets of Iraq for more than a week in protest against Maliki, whom they accuse of discriminating against their sect and being under the sway of their non-Arab Shi'ite neighbor Iran. ...

Nigerian army says 14 die in gun battle with Boko Haram

Posted: 01 Jan 2013 01:22 PM PST

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigeria's military killed 13 members of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram and lost one soldier on Tuesday in a gun battle in Maiduguri, the group's northeastern stronghold, the army said. Boko Haram, which is loosely based on the Afghan Taliban, killed hundreds last year in a campaign to impose sharia, or Islamic law, in Nigeria, a country of more than 160 million split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims. ...

Ten crushed to death, 120 injured at Angola church event

Posted: 01 Jan 2013 02:13 PM PST

LISBON (Reuters) - Ten people were crushed to death and 120 injured in the Angolan capital Luanda as they tried to enter an overcrowded stadium for a vigil organized by a Pentecostal church, the state news agency Angop reported on Tuesday. Angop cited an emergency services spokesman as saying the victims, including four children, were crushed at the gates of the Cidadela Desportiva stadium, where the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (IURD) organized a vigil on Monday night. ...

Syrian government forces go on attack on first day of year

Posted: 01 Jan 2013 07:41 AM PST

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Government war planes bombed opposition-held areas of Syria and President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebels fought on the outskirts of the capital Damascus on New Year's Day on Tuesday. A year ago, many diplomats and analysts predicted Assad would leave power in 2012. But despite international pressure and rebel gains, he has proved resilient. His inner circle remains largely intact and retains control of the armed forces, even if it relies on air strikes and artillery power to hold back the rebels fighting to overthrow him. ...

Iran warns off foreign planes during naval drill: report

Posted: 01 Jan 2013 09:32 AM PST

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran has warned off foreign surveillance planes that have tried to approach its forces during naval drills in the Strait of Hormuz, an Iranian military spokesman said on Tuesday. The drills, which began on Friday, are aimed at showcasing Iran's military capability in the shipping route through which 40 percent of the world's sea-borne oil exports pass. Iran has threatened to block the strait if it comes under military attack over its disputed nuclear program. The United States has said it would not tolerate any obstruction of commercial traffic through the strait. ...

Bomb kills two, injures 50 in Pakistani city of Karachi

Posted: 01 Jan 2013 08:44 AM PST

Soldiers cordon off the site of a motorcycle bomb blast in KarachiKARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) - A bomb exploded in a crowded area of Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi on Tuesday, killing at least two people and wounding 50, police said. Two of the injured were in a critical condition, police spokesman Imran Shaukat said. The bomb appeared to have been planted on a motorbike. It was not immediately clear who or what was the target of the blast in the Aisha Manzil area of Karachi, although a political rally was happening nearby. The explosion was heard several kilometers (miles) away. ...

Stampede after fireworks kills 61 in Ivory Coast

Posted: 01 Jan 2013 01:15 PM PST

Injured children receive treatment in a hospital after they were involved in a stamped in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. At least 61 people were killed early Tuesday in a stampede following a New Year's fireworks display in Abidjan, Ivory Coast's commercial center, said officials. The death toll is expected to rise, according to rescue workers. The majority of those killed were young people between eight and 15 years old who were trampled after the fireworks festivities in Abidjan's Plateau district, at about 1 a.m. Tuesday, said Col. Issa Sako, of the fire department rescue team. (AP Photo/Emanuel Ekra)ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — A crowd stampeded after leaving a New Year's fireworks show early Tuesday in Ivory Coast's main city, killing 61 people — many of them children and teenagers — and injuring more than 200, rescue workers said.

Clashes in Syria shut down Aleppo airport

Posted: 01 Jan 2013 11:38 AM PST

In this Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012 photo, Free Syrian Army fighters fire at enemy positions during heavy clashes with government forces, in the Salaheddine district in Aleppo, Syria. Activists say Syrian rebels have captured an oil pumping station in the north central province of Raqqa about 160 km east of Aleppo after days of fighting. (AP Photo/Abdullah Al-Yasin)BEIRUT (AP) — Clashes between government troops and rebels on Tuesday forced the international airport in Aleppo to stop all flights in and out of Syria's largest city, while fierce battles also raged in the suburbs of the capital Damascus.

Chavez's VP says ailing leader still 'delicate'

Posted: 01 Jan 2013 11:25 PM PST

A woman holds an image of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez as people gather to pray for him at a church in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Dec. 31, 2012. Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is confronting "new complications" due to a respiratory infection nearly three weeks after undergoing cancer surgery, his Vice President Nicolas Maduro said Sunday evening in Cuba as he visited the ailing leader for the first time since his operation. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's vice president is returning home Wednesday from a visit with Hugo Chavez in Cuba and says the ailing president's condition remains "delicate" three weeks after his cancer surgery.

Pakistan: Gunmen kill 7 teachers, aid workers

Posted: 01 Jan 2013 11:54 AM PST

A father of an aid worker, who was killed by gunmen, mourns the death of his daughter at a hospital in Swabi, Pakistan, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. Gunmen in northwest Pakistan killed at least five female teachers and two aid workers on Tuesday in an ambush on a van carrying workers home from their jobs at a community center, officials said. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)ISLAMABAD (AP) — Gunmen on motorcycles sprayed a van carrying employees from a community center with bullets Tuesday, killing five female teachers and two aid workers, but sparing a child they took out of the vehicle before opening fire.

India paying welfare directly, aiming to end fraud

Posted: 01 Jan 2013 04:52 PM PST

Impoverished and homeless people stand in a queue to receive free food from a volunteer organization in front of a temple, in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. India will send billions of dollars in social welfare money directly to its poor under a new program inaugurated Tuesday, aiming to cut out the middlemen blamed for the massive fraud that plagues the system. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)NEW DELHI (AP) — India will pay billions of dollars in social welfare money directly to its poor under a new program that aims to cut out the middlemen blamed for the massive fraud that plagues the system.

Israeli-Palestinian clashes erupt in West Bank

Posted: 01 Jan 2013 01:58 PM PST

Palestinians hurl stones at Israeli soldiers, not seen, during clashes in the West Bank village of Tamoun, near Jenin, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. Palestinians say a raid by Israeli soldiers disguised as vegetable vendors to seize members of a militant group has sparked clashes in the northern West Bank. (AP Photo/Mohammed Ballas)TAMOUN, West Bank (AP) — An arrest raid by undercover Israeli soldiers disguised as vegetable vendors ignited rare clashes in the northern West Bank on Tuesday, residents said, leaving at 10 Palestinians wounded.

Palestinians will outnumber Israeli Jews by 2020

Posted: 01 Jan 2013 09:36 AM PST

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Palestinian statistics bureau estimates that Arabs will outnumber Jews in the Holy Land by the end of the decade, a scenario that could have grave implications for Israel.

1 Indian gang rape suspect may be juvenile

Posted: 01 Jan 2013 08:57 PM PST

An Indian woman and her daughter pray as they take part in a silent protest to mourn the death of a gang rape victim in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. The gang-rape and killing of a New Delhi student has set off an impassioned debate about what India needs to do to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. The country remained in mourning Tuesday, three days after the 23-year-old physiotherapy student died from her internal wounds in a Singapore hospital. (AP Photo/ Dar Yasin)NEW DELHI (AP) — A bone test is being conducted to confirm the age of a young suspect in custody in the fatal assault and gang rape of a woman on a bus in India's capital, while prosecutors will seek the death penalty for five other men arrested with him, police said.

Egypt prosecutors investigate popular TV comedian

Posted: 01 Jan 2013 12:26 PM PST

In this Saturday Dec. 8, 2012 photo, Egyptian TV host Bassem Youssef addresses attendants at a gala dinner party in Cairo, Egypt. Egyptian prosecutors launched an investigation on Tuesday against Youssef a popular television satirist for allegedly insulting the president in the latest case raised by Islamist lawyers against outspoken media personalities. The case against Youssef comes as opposition media and independent journalists are growing increasingly worried about press freedoms under a new constitution widely supported by Morsi and his Islamist allies. (AP Photo/Ahmed Omar)CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian prosecutors launched an investigation on Tuesday against a popular television satirist for allegedly insulting the president in the latest case raised by Islamist lawyers against outspoken media personalities.

Egypt orders 15-day detention for Israeli

Posted: 01 Jan 2013 09:31 AM PST

FILE - In this June 11, 2012 photo, Israeli, Andre Pshenichnikov, a 23-year-old immigrant from Tajikistan poses for a picture in Bat Yam near Tel Aviv, Israel. Egyptian security officials say a former sergeant in the Israeli army they have identified as Andrew Yaacoub Cheteko, but known in Israel as Andre Pshenichnikov, has been ordered detained for 15 days for investigation into his illegal entry from Israel into the Sinai Peninsula. The Jewish immigrant made headlines last year when he announced he wanted to move to a West Bank refugee camp in solidarity with Palestinians there. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — Egyptian security officials say a former sergeant in the Israeli army has been ordered detained for 15 days for investigation into his illegal entry from Israel into the Sinai Peninsula.
Posted by Harshad at 1:12 AM

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