Months of sharp behind-the-scenes jostling reach a climax Thursday with the announcement of a new Chinese leadership that almost regardless of its makeup is likely to be much like the one it replaces: divided, deliberative and weak. McAfee flees from Belize authorities - should he fear the police?
Many things stood out when reading the Gizmodo piece on John McAfee, the eccentric pioneer of anti-virus software who is now wanted for questioning about the murder of a fellow American expatriate in Belize: allegations of paranoia, his obsession with danger sports, his choice in young partners. (Read the whole piece here - it came out just before the murder was discovered)
Congo mutineer linked to M23 rebels surrenders
KINSHASA (Reuters) – A leading army mutineer allied to the M23 rebellion in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has surrendered, the government said on Wednesday, claiming it as a major blow to the insurgents. Eastern Congo has been swept by violence since the beginning of the year after hundreds of soldiers defected and launched M23, which says it wants to overthrow President Joseph Kabila. More than 760,000 people have fled their homes since. …
UK green-lights new tidal energy projects
LONDON (Reuters) – The UK gave the go-ahead to three tidal energy projects on Wednesday, tiptoeing forward on efforts to boost a sector that could generate 20 percent of the country’s electricity. The Crown Estate, which administers land and offshore development rights, said the three projects could proceed further with their plans subject to final approval from regional authorities following public consultation. …
In war-torn Syria, secrets and double lives
IDLIB, Syria (Reuters) – Every morning, Amjad goes through two army checkpoints to attend a school run by the Syrian government. Every night, he sits by his father’s side to plot attacks to bring that government down. Amjad doesn’t see the strangeness of his predicament – reciting chants of loyalty to President Bashar al-Assad in the army-controlled city where his school is, and going home to a village where everyone knows his father’s rebel unit just blew up an Assad tank convoy. …
US general's affair raises question on biographers' role: 'Shouldn't sleep with your subject'
NEW YORK, N.Y. – The affair between retired U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus and author Paula Broadwell is but an extreme example of the love/hate history between biographers and their subjects.
Keystone oil shipments resume normal flows after power problems
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – TransCanada Corp said on Wednesday it is declaring force majeure on some shipments on its 590,000 barrel-per-day Keystone oil pipeline after it ran at reduced rates for three day because of power supply restrictions. Shipments on the line that takes Canadian oil to Wood River, Illinois, and the Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub were reduced from Saturday afternoon until Tuesday afternoon as utility crews in Manitoba worked to clear ice from power lines, Grady Semmens, a spokesman for the company, said in an email. …
Five charged over Kenya police killings, hunt intensifies
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya on Wednesday charged five regional officials with the murder of 32 Kenyan police officers killed by armed cattle raiders in an ambush at the weekend, described as the worst attack on the country’s police. The junior officials, who oversee a cluster of villages in the northwestern region, pleaded not guilty after they were arrested early on Wednesday. Police and troops, backed by military helicopters, launched an offensive against the raiders suspected to be from the ethnic Turkana community who had stolen cattle from the Samburu tribe. …
Police test Afghanistan's fragile ethnic balance
Patrolling in all-terrain vehicles that whip up clouds of dust, members of Afghanistan’s elite Civil Order Police might be viewed as outsiders here in southern Helmand province, an ethnic Pashtun heartland where residents talk wistfully of the Taliban’s rule, call NATO troops invaders and refer to Afghan government officials as thieves.
Putin's invite to Obama: a formality or a good omen?
Barack Obama has agreed to hold a summit meeting in Moscow soon, after Russian President Vladimir Putin unexpectedly called him up Tuesday night and extended the invite.
Iamgold shares drop on profit miss, lowered output forecast
(Reuters) – Shares of Canada’s Iamgold Corp plunged more than 16 percent on Wednesday, the day after the gold miner reported lower-than-expected quarterly earnings and cut its production target for 2013. The Toronto-based company also said it expected 2012 production to be at the lower end of its target range and that it had cut capital spending by about 7 percent this year on delays at two major expansion projects. …
Canada dollar hits session low as stocks markets slide
TORONTO (Reuters) – The Canadian dollar hit a session low against the greenback on Wednesday, tracking a fall in U.S. and Canadian equity markets as investors focused on fears about impending U.S. budget discussions and the debt crisis in Europe. The currency weakened to C$1.0034 versus its U.S. counterpart, or 99.66 U.S. cents, after starting the North American session on slightly firmer ground. The Canadian dollar ended the day on Tuesday at C$1.0019, or $0.9981. (Reporting by Claire Sibonney; Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson)
Report: Sri Lankan war was grave failure for UN
A draft United Nations report says inadequate efforts by the world body to protect civilians in the bloody final months of Sri Lanka’s civil war marked a “grave failure” for the world body.
Israel sees long days of Gaza combat, moots invasion
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel's aerial assault on the Gaza Strip on Wednesday could draw cross-border Palestinian rocket att acks and stretch into days of fighting, including a ground offensive if required, the Israeli military said. "The days we face in the south will, in my estimation, prove protracted," Brigadier-General Yoav Mordechai told Channel 2 TV after Israeli air strikes killed the military chief of Gaza's Hamas government. "The homefront must brace itself resiliently. … Israel says rebels take Syrian frontier villages
Syrian rebels have taken control of nearly all villages near the frontier with the Israel-held Golan Heights, according to Israel's defense minister who said Wednesday that Bashar Assad's forces were "displaying ever-diminishing efficiency." Glacier melt cited as main cause of rising seas
Austrian experts say melting glaciers have been the single greatest cause of rising sea level over the past century.
Ivory Coast president dissolves Cabinet
Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara dissolved his Cabinet on Wednesday over an apparent feud between member parties of his governing coalition, a senior official said.
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