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Shootings, bombings kill 12 in Iraq

President Barack Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki stay in their seats, Friday, Nov. 1, 2013, following a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. The prime minister arrived at the White House Friday to personally appeal to President Barack Obama for more U.S. assistance in beating back the bloody insurgency consuming his country. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) BAGHDAD (AP) — A double suicide bombing and other attacks killed 12 people in Iraq on Monday, said officials, while Iraqi legislators passed a law laying the groundwork for next year’s parliamentary elections. Violence has spiked in Iraq since April, with the pace of killing reaching levels unseen since 2008. U.N. figures released last week showed that at least 979 people, mostly civilians, were killed last month alone. The latest attacks came two days after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki returned from a trip to Washington in […]

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UN aid chief says 40% of Syrians in need of assistance

Displaced Syrian women and children near Kafer Rouma, ancient ruins used as temporary shelter by those families who have fled from the heavy fighting and shelling in the Idlib province countryside of Syria 5 November 2013 Last updated at 01:46 The number of those needing help has risen by more than 30% since September Some 9.3 million people in Syria – or about 40% of the population – now need outside assistance, UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos has said. This figure has risen by 2.5m from the 6.8m total the UN gave in September. The Syria crisis “continues to deteriorate rapidly and inexorably”, Ms Amos told the UN Security Council. Meanwhile, UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is due to hold talks with US and Russian diplomats aimed at paving the way for a Syria peace conference. In Geneva, Mr Brahimi will also meet representatives from the rest of the […]

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India says patience needed on Sudan's missed pipeline payments

NEW DELHI, Nov. 4 (UPI) — Indian energy company ONGC Videsh Ltd. was asked to be patient with Sudan, which has missed four payments for pipeline work, officials said. Sudan missed the payments to the international subsidiary of India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp. for pipeline work in Sudan, the Times of India reported Saturday. “We should show some more patience to the government of Sudan … as it would have repercussions on our engagement with that country in the oil sector,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs was quoted as saying. The Times reported India is vying for a larger role in a Sudanese oil sector dominated by Chinese energy companies. Sudan controls most of the pipeline infrastructure in the country but lost some reserves to South Sudan when the latter gained independence in 2011. “Our ambassador has also suggested [ONGC Videsh] should look at the possibility of converting […]

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India says patience needed on Sudan’s missed pipeline payments

NEW DELHI, Nov. 4 (UPI) — Indian energy company ONGC Videsh Ltd. was asked to be patient with Sudan, which has missed four payments for pipeline work, officials said. Sudan missed the payments to the international subsidiary of India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp. for pipeline work in Sudan, the Times of India reported Saturday. “We should show some more patience to the government of Sudan … as it would have repercussions on our engagement with that country in the oil sector,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs was quoted as saying. The Times reported India is vying for a larger role in a Sudanese oil sector dominated by Chinese energy companies. Sudan controls most of the pipeline infrastructure in the country but lost some reserves to South Sudan when the latter gained independence in 2011. “Our ambassador has also suggested [ONGC Videsh] should look at the possibility of converting […]

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Heavy gunfire heard in Libya's capital Tripoli

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Heavy shooting from guns and anti-aircraft weapons erupted early on Tuesday in the Libyan capital Tripoli, Reuters witnesses said. The fighting occurred between militias in the eastern Suq al-Juma area, said a militia source with government ties, adding that he had no further information. Reuters reporters in Tripoli could hear intermittent gunfire for three hours. A Facebook website showed what it said were two burned-out cars from the scene of the fighting, though Reuters could not verify its authenticity. An interior ministry official told Reuters he had no information about the shooting. A defense ministry official declined to comment, while no other officials were immediately available. OPEC producer Libya faces chaos and anarchy as the government struggles to rein in militias, gangs and Islamist radicals in a country awash with arms two years after the ouster of former leader Muammar Gaddafi. Suq al-Juma was a center […]

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Heavy gunfire heard in Libya’s capital Tripoli

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Heavy shooting from guns and anti-aircraft weapons erupted early on Tuesday in the Libyan capital Tripoli, Reuters witnesses said. The fighting occurred between militias in the eastern Suq al-Juma area, said a militia source with government ties, adding that he had no further information. Reuters reporters in Tripoli could hear intermittent gunfire for three hours. A Facebook website showed what it said were two burned-out cars from the scene of the fighting, though Reuters could not verify its authenticity. An interior ministry official told Reuters he had no information about the shooting. A defense ministry official declined to comment, while no other officials were immediately available. OPEC producer Libya faces chaos and anarchy as the government struggles to rein in militias, gangs and Islamist radicals in a country awash with arms two years after the ouster of former leader Muammar Gaddafi. Suq al-Juma was a center […]

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Deposed Egypt president Mohamed Morsi defiant as trial adjourned

Morsi supporters gather outside Cairo Police Academy on November 4, 2013. Mohamed Morsi and other defendants arrived to the Police Academy, for their trial in the east of Cairo on November 4,2013. Protesters, raised Egypt’s ousted Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi , on Monday defiantly insisted he was the country’s legitimate leader as his trial for inciting violence got off to a raucous start at a heavily-guarded police academy on the outskirts of Cairo. Rejecting the proceedings against him as “cover for a coup”, the former president repeatedly interrupted the presiding judge, who adjourned the hearing when Mr Morsi tried to demand a special trial in accordance with procedures for the impeachment of a president set out in the suspended 2012 constitution. “I am Dr Mohamed Morsi, the president of the republic, and I am present here by force and against my will. The coup is criminal and treasonable,” he […]

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China plans to prove the sceptics wrong

Ingram Pinn illustration Foreign commentators and local bloggers regularly predict that China is heading for an economic and political crisis. But the country’s leaders are in strikingly confident mood. They believe that China can keep growing at more than 7 per cent a year for at least another decade. That would mean the country’s economy – already the second-largest in the world – would double in size. And, depending on the assumptions you make about US growth and exchange rates, it would probably mean that China becomes the world’s largest economy by 2020. Nobody embodies the leadership’s confidence better than the burly, imposing figure of Xi Jinping, China’s president. Last week, I was part of a group of foreign visitors – brought together by the 21st century Council, a think-tank – who met the Chinese leader in Beijing. Mr Xi’s manner is warmer and less formal than that of […]

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China warns local leaders to cut industry bloat

AP Photo BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leaders have ordered local officials to stop expanding industries such as steel and cement in which supply outstrips demand, a Cabinet statement said Tuesday, in a sign previous orders to cut overcapacity were ignored. Beijing has been trying since 2009 to cut excess production capacity, which has triggered price-cutting wars that threaten the financial health of some industries. But lower-level leaders whose promotions depend on economic development have continued to support local industries. In a video conference on Monday, planning officials warned local leaders to stop ignoring orders to reduce overcapacity in industries including steel, cement, aluminum and glass. “Those who still violate discipline will be heavily punished,” said the deputy director of the Cabinet planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, Hu Zucai, according to the government newspaper China Daily. Economists and business groups warn industrial overcapacity could hurt Chinese banks […]

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China premier warns against loose money policies

BEIJING (Reuters) – China needs to sustain economic growth of 7.2 percent to ensure a stable job market, Premier Li Keqiang said as he warned the government against further expanding already loose money policies. In one of the few occasions when a top official has enunciated the minimum level of growth needed for employment, Li said calculations show China’s economy must grow 7.2 percent annually to create 10 million jobs a year. That would cap the urban unemployment rate at around 4 percent, he said. "We want to stabilize economic growth because we need to guarantee employment essentially," Li was quoted by the Workers’ Daily as saying on Monday. His remarks were made at a union meeting two weeks ago but were only published in full this week. Yet even as authorities keep an eye on growth, Li sounded a warning on easy credit supply, which he said had […]

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