Syria unrest: Arab League discusses observer mission

Foreign ministers from the Arab League are meeting in Cairo to assess the progress of their mission in Syria and to discuss whether to ask for UN help.

North Korea to top agenda at Lee-Hu summit in China

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak will this week ask China to use its influence to lean on North Korea to show restraint amid a delicate transition to a new leadership in Pyongyang focused on projecting a militaristic image.

Lee will hold a summit with China’s president, Hu Jintao, in Beijing and will “discuss ways to develop the strategic partnership between the two nations and cooperative measures for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula”, the South Korean president’s office said in a statement.

Lee’s three-day state trip to China, his second in four years, starts tomorrow.

The South has said its primary foreign policy goal this year is maintaining stability on the divided peninsula as its unpredictable neighbour embarks on a third generation of dynastic rule following Kim Jong-il’s death last month.

Little is known about Kim’s chosen successor, his son Kim Jong-un, who in his late 20s and who will be relying on a small circle of trusted members of the military and political elite to act as minders while he cements his grip on power.

More than 20 feared dead in Kenyan boat crash

Kenyan police officers search for survivors after a passenger boat capsized off the Kenyan island of Lamu on January 2, 2012. At least seven people died and many more were feared missing. — Reuters picormation desk after a passenger boat capsized off the Kenyan island of Lamu on January 2, 2012. At least seven people died and many more were feared missing after a boat carrying dozens of passengers hit another vessel.


More than 20 people were feared dead after a Kenyan ferry carrying more than 80 passengers capsized last night following a collision with a cargo boat off the island of Lamu, a popular tourist destination.

Survivors confirmed earlier suggestions that the small ferry was overloaded when the two vessels collided in the dark at about 9pm (1800 GMT).

The Kenya Red Cross said of the 82 passengers, seven were confirmed dead as of last night, 25 had been rescued and 23 managed to swim to shore. Fifteen people pulled from the water were admitted to hospital.

Abdalla Miraj, regional head of the Kenya Red Cross, told Reuters at least 16 people were still believed missing.

Iran test-fires new missile as Strait of Hormuz posturing continues

Iran test-fired a new Qader missile today, in the latest bout of martial posturing over the country's nuclear program and the security of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping lane for oil.

Iran fires long-range missile during Gulf drill, IRNA reports

An Iranian warship launches a missile in an unknown location in this still image taken from footage released by Islamic Republic of Iran News Network on January 1, 2012

Iran said today it had successfully test-fired a long-range missile during its naval exercise in the Gulf, the official IRNA news agency reported.

“We have test fired a long-range shore-to-sea missile called Qader (capable), which managed to successfully destroy predetermined targets in the Gulf,” the agency quoted deputy navy Commander Mahmoud Mousavi as saying.

Psycho Stapleton: Extraordinary name given to court by man accused of shooting dead Indian student

'I'm Psycho... Psycho Stapleton: Extraordinary name given to court by man accused of shooting dead Indian student

* Kiaran Stapleton, 20, from Salford, is charged with murder
* Anuj Bidve was shot dead at point-blank range on Boxing Day



The man accused of gunning down Indian student Anuj Bidve on Boxing Day gave his name as 'Psycho Stapleton' when he appeared in court today charged with murder.

Kiaran Stapleton, 20, from Ordsall, Salford, was remanded in custody for 24 hours at City of Manchester Magistrates' Court.

A scrum of TV cameramen and photographers crowded the prison van carrying Stapleton as it arrived at court, while inside the courtroom was packed with reporters.

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Anuj Bidve, 23, was shot at close range in the Ordsall district of Salford, Greater Manchester on Boxing Day

Myanmar cuts prison terms but no political amnesty

Laos’s Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong (left) and Myanmar President Thein Sein pose before a gala dinner to mark the Fourth GMS Summit at Myanmar International Convention Centre (MICC) in Naypyitaw on December 19, 2011.



Myanmar President Thein Sein has commuted death sentences to life in prison and cut the terms to be served by other prisoners in a gesture to mark Independence Day, state media said today, but it appeared no political prisoners would be freed.

The nominally civilian government that took office in Myanmar last March has begun to implement gradual political and economic reforms. In October, it released around 230 political prisoners jailed by the former junta.

Several hundred are still thought to be behind bars and some observers had suggested there could be an amnesty early in the New Year.

Independence Day falls on January 4, marking the day when the country, formerly known as Burma, gained independence from British colonial rule in 1948.

Person of interest detained in LA arson fires

Los Angeles police this morning detained and are questioning a "person of interest" in the spate of arson fires occurring around the city since Friday.

Syrian rebels capture troops in north

Demonstrators against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad gather in Derbasia near Hassaka on December 13, 2011. Security forces shot dead 17 people in Syria on Tuesday and rebels killed seven police in an ambush.


Armed Syrian rebels captured dozens of members of the security forces by seizing two military checkpoints in the northern province of Idlib today, the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

It said the army deserters also clashed with security forces at a third checkpoint, killing and wounding an unspecified number of troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

Rami Abdelrahman, director of the British-based Observatory, said Monday's operation took place in the Jabal al-Zawiyah region of Idlib. It was not immediately clear how many people had been killed or captured by the rebels, he said.

Indonesia probes Bali tattoo HIV infection report

A local artist tattoos the back of a foreigner (L) during a tattoo festival at Legian Kuta on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali. An investigation is being launched into an alleged case of an Australian tourist contracting HIV while getting a tattoo on the island.


Indonesia is investigating the case of an Australian who is believed to have been infected with HIV while getting a tattoo on the resort island of Bali, an official said today.

“We received a report about this case from the health ministry yesterday and officials will be visiting tattoo parlours today to verify this claim,” Bali health department chief Nyoman Sutedja said.

“At this point, we are still investigating. We can’t say for sure if the patient caught the virus from getting a tattoo or sexual contact,” he added.

There are currently 4,200 HIV/AIDS cases on Bali, Sutedja said.

Iran threatens to stop Gulf oil if sanctions widened

Iran’s Navy Commander Habibulah Sayari holds a news conference in Tehran, December 22, 2011, on its war games.


Iran threatened yesterday to stop the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz if foreign sanctions were imposed on its crude exports over its nuclear ambitions, a move that could trigger military conflict with economies dependent on Gulf oil.

Western tensions with Iran have increased since a November 8 report by the UN nuclear watchdog saying Tehran appears to have worked on designing an atomic bomb and may still be pursuing research to that end. Iran strongly denies this and says it is developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

Argentine president diagnosed with thyroid cancer

President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner at a ceremony outside the Casa Rosada Presidential Palace in Buenos Aires in this December 10, 2011, file photo.


Argentine President Cristina Fernandez has thyroid cancer and will undergo surgery next month, a government spokesman said yesterday, adding that the cancerous cells had not spread.

Fernandez, 58, was easily re-elected to a second four-year term in October and her new government was sworn in earlier this month.

Fernandez was diagnosed with a papillary carcinoma that has not metastasised, said her spokesman, Alfredo Scoccimarro. The operation is scheduled to take place on January 4 and she is expected to take a leave of absence until January 24.

“If everything is as they said officially, she shouldn’t have any other problem. The sickness hasn’t spread,” said Buenos Aires-based oncologist Mario Bruno.

Globe and Mail Challenges Emerge as Arab League Observers Begin Work in a Syrian City

A team of observers from the Arab League traveled to the embattled Syrian city of Homs on Tuesday in a visit that quieted days of fierce violence but also provided hints of the potential challenges of a group trying to monitor a ...

UK’s Prince Philip leaves hospital after heart op

Britain’s Prince Philip is driven away from Papworth Hospital in southern England December 27, 2011. Queen Elizabeth’s 90-year-old husband spent Christmas Day and Boxing Day in a hospital bed after successful surgery to clear a blocked heart artery, missing the royal family’s celebrations at its rural Sandringham estate in eastern England.

Queen Elizabeth’s 90-year-old husband Prince Philip left a British hospital today after undergoing successful surgery to clear a blocked heart artery.

Putin ejects Kremlin ‘puppet master’ after protests

Vladislav Surkov (right) in this February 6, 2007, file photo with then President Vladimir Putin.


The architect of Vladimir Putin’s tightly controlled political system became one of its most senior victims yesterday when he was shunted out of the Kremlin in the wake of the biggest opposition protests of Putin’s 12-year rule.

The sacrifice of Vladislav Surkov, branded the Kremlin’s “puppet master” by enemies and friends alike, is also a rare admission of failure for Russia’s “alpha dog” leader: Surkov’s system was Putin’s system.

North Korean Mourners Line Streets for Kim Jong-il's Funeral

Kim Jong-un, the designated successor to the socialist throne in Pyongyang, North Korea, bid farewell on Wednesday to his deceased father, Kim Jong-il, walking along his hearse through snow-covered downtown Pyongyang in an ...

Funeral for North Korean leader starts

North Korea's military staged a huge funeral procession on Wednesday in the snowy streets of the capital Pyongyang for its deceased "dear leader," Kim Jong-il, readying a transition to his son, Kim Jong-un.North Korea's new leader Kim Jong-un cries as his father, North Korea's late leader Kim Jong-il, lies in state during the run-up to his funeral in Pyongyang in this still image taken from video broadcast on December 27, 2011.



Pictures from state television showed a funeral cortege led by a limousine carrying a huge picture of the 69-year old, who died on December 17, passing serried ranks of olive green-clad soldiers whose heads were bowed.

A hearse carrying the coffin was led by a weeping Kim Jong-un, accompanied Jang Song-thaek, his uncle and a key power-broker in the transition, and Ri Yong-ho, the army chief of staff.

Kim Jong-un will become the third member of the family to run the isolated and unpredictable Asian country.

The coming year was supposed to mark North Korea's self-proclaimed transformation into a "strong and prosperous" nation, but it faces a dangerous transition to a young, untested leader at a time when dictatorships across the world have tumbled.

It would seem however that little is set to change in a country that has staged what many analysts have dubbed a "Great March Backwards" over the last 20 years.

Strong it may be - North Korea is backed by neighbouring China, has conducted two nuclear tests and has ambitions to become a nuclear power and boasts a 1.2 million-strong armed forces - but prosperous it is not.

On average, North Koreans die three-and-a-half years earlier than they did when "Eternal President" Kim Il-sung died, according to U.N. data.

Japan getting ready for unexpected after Kim’s death

Portraits of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung (left) and his son Kim Jong-il at the People’s Palace of Culture in Pyongyang


Japan scurried to prepare for the unexpected today after news that Kim Jong-il, the leader of its unpredictable neighbour North Korea, had died of a heart attack.

“We hope this sudden event does not have an adverse effect on the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told a news conference after a hastily called ministerial meeting on security.

U.N.'s Ban condemns excessive force in Cairo clashes

A protester shouts during clashes with riot police near cabinet offices near Tahrir Square in Cairo December 18, 2011

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned excessive use of force by Egypt's security forces as hundreds of demonstrators demanding an end to military rule clashed with police in Cairo for a fourth day.


Police and soldiers using batons drove stone-throwing protesters out of Cairo's Tahrir Square, hub of the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in February, early Monday, a Reuters witness said.

Protesters fled down sidestreets, away from sensitive areas where parliament, the cabinet offices and Interior Ministry are located. Security forces have previously cleared the square briefly only to pull back when protesters return in force.

At least 10 people have died in the past three days of clashes as protesters demand that the generals who took charge after Mubarak's overthrow quit power. The violence broke out just after the second stage of elections that Egyptians hope will bring stability and civilian rule.

"Down with Tantawi," protesters chanted late Sunday, referring to Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi who heads the army council and was Mubarak's defense minister.

Youths had earlier hurled rocks and petrol bombs at lines of security forces. Riot police appeared to have moved to the front line instead of soldiers.

Last Convoy of American Troops Leaves Iraq

An American soldier walked last week through Contingency Operating Base Adder, where the last convoy of the military withdrawal left early Sunday under cover of darkness.