| Americans back Iran deal by 2-to-1 margin: Reuters/Ipsos poll Posted: 26 Nov 2013 04:44 PM PST  By Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans back a newly brokered nuclear deal with Iran by a 2-to-1 margin and are very wary of the United States resorting to military action against Tehran even if the historic diplomatic effort falls through, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Tuesday. The findings were rare good news in the polls for President Barack Obama whose approval ratings have dropped in recent weeks because of the botched rollout of his signature healthcare reform law. According to the Reuters/Ipsos survey, 44 percent of Americans support the interim deal reached between Iran and six world powers in Geneva last weekend, and 22 percent oppose it. Even if the Iran deal fails, 49 percent want the United States to then increase sanctions and 31 percent think it should launch further diplomacy.
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| U.S. fines Weatherford $253 million over Iran work, junkets Posted: 26 Nov 2013 02:03 PM PST  Oilfield services firm Weatherford International will pay $253 million in fines to the U.S. government to settle charges that ranged from flouting sanctions against Iran and Syria to sending business partners on World Cup soccer junkets, officials said on Tuesday. Weatherford was charged with exporting oil and gas equipment to Iran, Syria, Sudan and Cuba in violation of sanctions, and exporting items controlled for nuclear nonproliferation reasons to Venezuela and Mexico. Prosecutors also filed criminal charges against Weatherford itself for failing to establish a compliance program, but they agreed to defer and drop them if the company improves its controls. The charges against Weatherford, the smallest of the four main oilfield services firms, also include Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) breaches and violations of export laws.
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| Suicide bombers kill 14 in attacks on army bases near Baghdad Posted: 26 Nov 2013 01:02 PM PST Suicide bombers killed 14 members of Iraq's security services and wounded 37 in attacks on army bases north of Baghdad on Tuesday, police and medical sources said. Iraq is suffering from its worst surge in violence in at least five years with insurgents stepping up bombing campaigns against security forces and civilians. In the first set of attacks, two bombers detonated in quick succession at an intersection between the towns of Taji and Tarmiya, around 25 km (15 miles) north of the Iraqi capital, killing eight Iraqi soldiers and wounding 26. Later on Tuesday two more suicide bombers targeting another army base in a village outside Taji killed six police and wounded 11, police and medics said. |
| Exclusive: U.N. says Syria combatants stymie aid effort Posted: 26 Nov 2013 12:21 PM PST  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations says its aid convoys cannot reach around 250,000 people in areas besieged by Syrian government forces or rebels, despite "growing needs and intensifying conflict". The detailed assessment was included in a confidential paper that Valerie Amos, U.N. emergency relief coordinator, presented to a private, unannounced U.N. meeting in Geneva on Tuesday. "Besieged communities continue to be cut off." International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi announced on Monday that peace talks would be held on January 22, the first direct talks between the government of President Bashar al-Assad and opposition forces seeking to topple him. The U.N. document entitled "Humanitarian Situation and Response in Syria" painted a grim picture, saying there were 900 armed clashes in Syria in October compared with 500 in May. It describes a "dangerous and difficult environment for humanitarian workers" and says 12 U.N. staff and 32 volunteers or staff of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent have been killed since the conflict began in March 2011.
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| Suicide bombings kill 13 Iraqi soldiers and police Posted: 26 Nov 2013 11:58 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Suicide bombings at a military base and a police station killed 13 members of the Iraqi security forces north of Baghdad on Tuesday, officials said. |
| U.N. Security Council considering sanctions on Central African Republic Posted: 26 Nov 2013 11:30 AM PST The U.N. Security Council is considering imposing an arms embargo on the virtually lawless Central African Republic as well as putting a travel ban on people undermining the country's stability, fueling violence and abusing human rights. The landlocked, mineral-rich nation of 4.6 million people has slipped into chaos since northern Seleka rebels seized the capital, Bangui, in March and ousted President Francois Bozize. France has drafted a resolution that would not only see the council establish its first new sanctions regime in 18 months but also authorize African peacekeepers and French troops to take all necessary measures to protect civilians, restore security and help re-establish state authority. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, posted on Twitter on last week: "Long past time for swift deployment of AU forces and imposing sanctions on perpetrators of violence." The Security Council already has 13 sanctions regimes in place on Somalia/Eritrea, al Qaeda, Iraq, Liberia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Sudan, Lebanon, North Korea, Iran, Libya, the Taliban and Guinea-Bissau. |
| Saudi Arabia Considers Nuclear Weapons After Iran’s Geneva Deal Posted: 26 Nov 2013 11:29 AM PST More than a day later the cabinet offered its own pallid take: "If there is good will, then this agreement could represent a preliminary step toward a comprehensive solution to the Iranian nuclear program." Behind the gritted-teeth delivery there lurked an almost palpable sense of frustration, betrayal and impotence as Saudi Arabia watched its foremost foe gain ground in a 34-year competition for influence in the region. As discussions leading up to the historic agreement in Geneva unfurled over the past several months, Saudi did its utmost to express its discontent, lobbying behind closed doors for greater restrictions on Iran's nuclear program and rejecting at the last minute a long-sought seat on the United Nations Security Council. "It's as if Saudi Arabia and Iran suddenly traded places," marvels Riyadh and Istanbul-based Saudi foreign affairs commentator Abdullah Al Shamri. "Now [U.S. President] Obama and [Iranian President] Rouhani are talking on the phone while their foreign ministers shake hands, and it's Saudi Arabia that is throwing the temper tantrums at the U.N., shouting about nuclear weapons and trying to show the world that they are angry." |
| Attacks kill 16 as Iraq executes 'terrorists' Posted: 26 Nov 2013 11:21 AM PST  A spate of suicide bombings against security forces were the deadliest in attacks that killed 16 people Tuesday as Iraq announced more executions amid a protracted pre-election surge in violence. The bloodshed, which has killed nearly 6,000 people so far this year, has fuelled fears Iraq is slipping back into the brutal sectarian war of 2006-07, and has spurred officials to appeal for international help in combatting militancy. Baghdad has also voiced concern over a resurgent Al-Qaeda emboldened by the civil war raging in neighbouring Syria, and the government has trumpeted long-running operations against militants that officials say are having an impact. Tuesday's deadliest attack hit an army base in Tarmiyah, just north of Baghdad, killing at least seven soldiers and wounding 22 others, according to a police colonel and a health official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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| Double suicide bombing kills 9 soldiers in Iraq Posted: 26 Nov 2013 10:42 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Authorities in Iraq say a double suicide bombing at a military base north of Baghdad has killed nine soldiers. |
| Tug-of-war erupts over planned return of Jewish archives to Iraq Posted: 26 Nov 2013 10:41 AM PST  By Sylvia Westall and Jonathan Saul BAGHDAD/LONDON (Reuters) - Jewish books and documents found by U.S. soldiers in the flooded headquarters of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and sent to the United States for restoration have touched off a dispute between Baghdad and Iraqi Jews who fled the country. After a $3 million restoration, the collection has been put on display at the Washington-based National Archives. But bowing to demands from Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim-led government, the United States says it will return the collection next summer. A National Archives spokeswoman said the materials, whose removal from Baghdad was agreed in 2003 - when a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam and the country lurched into widespread sectarian turmoil - would be going back to Iraq and the decision was made by the U.S. State Department.
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| Hardliners hold fire on Iran nuclear deal, but for how long? Posted: 26 Nov 2013 09:12 AM PST  By Marcus George DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's nuclear negotiators returned home as heroes on Sunday, greeted by jubilant supporters after securing a deal with world powers over the country's disputed atomic program. Two days on, Iran's political realities are sinking in. To ensure the deal stays on track, Iran's new moderate government needs to protect it from virulently anti-Western security hardliners who wield great economic and political power and are close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Those voices are mostly silent as yet, but as the complex accord's costs and benefits are weighed by Iran's factionalized political class, hardliners who call the United States and its allies "world arrogance" will be poised to pounce.
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| Reminder: First National Conference On Veterans And Criminal Justice System, Veterans Treatment Court Conference, Focuses On Veterans' Substance Abuse And Mental Health Crisis, Opens 8AM Mon Dec 2 In DC Posted: 26 Nov 2013 08:41 AM PST 4-Star Gen. Barry McCaffrey (Former Drug Czar), Gen. Eric Shinseki (Sec Of Veterans Affairs), Actress & Justice For Vets Senior Director Melissa Fitzgerald, Iraq-Afghanistan Returning Veterans, Judges Speak1 in 6 Returning Vets Suffers from Substance Abuse, 1 in 5 a Mental Health Condition; "National Crisis of Alarming Proportions"8-10 AM, Mon. December 2, Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, DC,2660 Woodley Rd NW; Open to MediaAlso Joint Chiefs Of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey To Speak At Closing Session 8 AM December 4WASHINGTON, Nov. ... |
| Syria opposition: No final decision on peace talks Posted: 26 Nov 2013 08:29 AM PST  BEIRUT (AP) — Syria's main opposition group in exile said Tuesday it had not made a final decision yet on whether it would participate in a peace conference to be held in Geneva, adding that the international community must "prove its seriousness" by forcing Damascus to agree on trust-building measures.
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| Syria jihadists execute soldiers, 'collaborators' near Damascus Posted: 26 Nov 2013 06:02 AM PST  Beirut (AFP) - An Al-Qaeda-affiliated group in Syria has announced the execution of two soldiers and three "collaborators" with President Bashar al-Assad's regime near Damascus, according to a statement published on jihadist sites.
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| Syria peace talks a harder sell than Iran negotiations Posted: 26 Nov 2013 06:00 AM PST On the heels of the diplomatic success of nuclear talks between the West and Iran, the United Nations announced a new round of talks to take place in January between Syria's government and rebel factions. But with the key rebel military group abstaining and Bashar al-Assad's forces in control of the battlefield, analysts see limited scope for diplomatic efforts, at least for the moment. |
| Syria opposition: No final decision on talks Posted: 26 Nov 2013 05:58 AM PST BEIRUT (AP) — Syria's main opposition group in exile said Tuesday it had not made a final decision yet on whether it would participate in a peace conference to be held in Geneva, adding that the international community must "prove its seriousness" by forcing Damascus to agree on trust-building measures. |
| Iraq says no success tracing killers of Iranian dissidents Posted: 26 Nov 2013 05:42 AM PST  By Suadad al-Salhy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq is hunting militants, still unidentified, who led a deadly attack on an Iranian dissident camp near Baghdad and dismisses suggestions its own security forces were behind the violence, a senior government official said. More than 50 people were killed at the dissident Mujahadin-e-Khalq (MEK) group's Camp Ashraf in September in an attack the United Nations described as "an atrocious crime" and which drew condemnation from the United States and Britain. MEK, which the U.S. State Department removed from its list of terrorist organizations last year, wants Iran's clerical leaders overthrown and fought on former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's side during the Iran-Iraq war in 1980s. The group, which has accused Iraqi security forces of being behind the attack, is no longer welcome in Iraq under the Shi'ite Muslim-led government that came to power after U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam in 2003.
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| Turks worry as sons go to fight in Syria Posted: 26 Nov 2013 04:14 AM PST  By Daren Butler SANLIURFA, Turkey (Reuters) - Abu Huseyin says he has sent dozens of people from this ancient city in southeastern Turkey to join jihadist groups in northern Syria and vows to continue helping them fulfill what he says is their duty to God. Several hundred Turks are estimated to be among thousands of foreigners swelling the ranks of Islamist rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad's forces, generating what some politicians say is a risk that, radicalized and battle-hardened, they could one day return to stage attacks on Turkish soil. "We send those who are in the path of God for jihad," said Abu Huseyin, a tradesman identified by several locals as a man who helps recruit fighters for Syria from this mixed Turkish, Arab and Kurdish city 50 km (30 miles) from the Syrian frontier. Turkey has been an outspoken supporter of rebels fighting against Syria's Bashar al-Assad and has assisted them by keeping its border open.
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| U.S. says may pull out all troops as Afghan leader holds up deal Posted: 26 Nov 2013 04:06 AM PST  By Jessica Donati and Mark Felsenthal KABUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has refused to sign a security deal with the United States, the White House said, opening up the prospect of a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from the strife-torn nation next year. Karzai told U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice in Kabul on Monday that the United States must put an immediate end to military raids on Afghan homes and demonstrate its commitment to peace talks before he would sign a bilateral security pact, Karzai's spokesman said. The White House said Karzai had outlined new conditions in the meeting with Rice and "indicated he is not prepared to sign the promptly". "Without a prompt signature, the U.S. would have no choice but to initiate planning for a post-2014 future in which there would be no U.S. or NATO troop presence in Afghanistan," a White House statement quoted Rice as saying.
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| A look at the traders behind the China-Ecuador-U.S. oil triangle Posted: 26 Nov 2013 04:03 AM PST Ecuador's Socialist President Rafael Correa has often railed against allowing private trading firms to control the country's oil shipments, a top source of export revenue. Internal shipping schedules from state-owned oil firm PetroEcuador show that PetroChina Co Ltd. - the main buyer of Ecuador's crude - engaged a small Hong Kong-based firm named Ursa Shipping Ltd to help ship the oil. Together, they handled around two-thirds of the 33 million barrels of oil Ecuador exported during the second quarter, the schedules indicate. Market sources say Ursa acts as a shipper for Geneva-based oil trading firm Taurus Petroleum, whose mainstay business a decade ago was selling Iraqi crude under U.N.'s oil-for-food program. |
| Special Report: How China took control of an OPEC country's oil Posted: 26 Nov 2013 04:03 AM PST  By Joshua Schneyer and Nicolas Medina Mora Perez NEW YORK (Reuters) - China's aggressive quest for foreign oil has reached a new milestone, according to records reviewed by Reuters: near monopoly control of crude exports from an OPEC nation, Ecuador. Last November, Marco Calvopiña, the general manager of Ecuador's state oil company PetroEcuador, was dispatched to China to help secure $2 billion in financing for his government. Negotiations, which included committing to sell millions of barrels of Ecuador's oil to Chinese state-run firms through 2020, dragged on for days. "If the Phase III transaction documents are not signed in the coming days, then I cannot remain in Beijing," he wrote in a confidential letter to China Development Bank (CDB), reviewed by Reuters.
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| Syria peace talks face major obstacles: analysts Posted: 26 Nov 2013 03:22 AM PST  UNITED NATIONS (United States) (AFP) - The January 22 start of landmark Syria peace talks in Geneva will be difficult to keep to as the war worsens and fallout spreads across the Middle East, analysts say. "At long last and for the first time, the Syrian government and opposition will meet at the negotiating table instead of the battlefield," said UN leader Ban Ki-moon as he announced the date. The conference would be the "best opportunity" to halt the bloodshed, according to US Secretary of State John Kerry, whose country helped broker the meeting with the UN and Russia. But few observers see any chance of dousing the wildfires turning Syria into an inferno of conflict.
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| Why Syria's upcoming peace talks could hinge on the nuclear deal with Iran Posted: 26 Nov 2013 03:11 AM PST  On Monday, the United Nations announced that Syria's warring factions — the government of President Bashar al-Assad and the rebels trying to overthrow him — would sit down for peace talks for the first time on Jan. 22, 2014. The U.S. and Russia will also attend the meeting. "At long last and for the first time, the Syrian government and opposition will meet at the negotiating table instead of the battlefield," said U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The Syria announcement did feed the sense of diplomatic momentum generated from the Iran accord, says Reuters' Stephanie Nebehay.
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| UN says 2 more polio cases found in Syria Posted: 26 Nov 2013 02:48 AM PST BEIRUT (AP) — The World Health Organization says it has discovered two additional cases of the highly contagious polio virus in Syria, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 17. |
| Lebanon cannabis trade thrives in shadow of Syrian war Posted: 25 Nov 2013 11:35 PM PST  Bekaa (Lebanon) (AFP) - Lebanese marijuana grower Abu Sami is practically rubbing his hands together with glee: the Syrian conflict has paralysed authorities at home and left the nearby border virtually uncontrolled. "This year, the harvest was abundant, and the authorities have left us alone because they are otherwise occupied," he tells AFP in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa region. The area shares a long, porous border with Syria and is a stronghold of the Shiite Lebanese movement Hezbollah, which is fighting alongside the Syrian regime against a 32-month-old uprising. After the harvest in Abu Sami's bucolic village, at the foot of an arid mountain, marijuana is brought to buildings where it is dried and processed into hashish.
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| Is John Kerry already a better secretary of State than Hillary Clinton? Posted: 25 Nov 2013 10:09 PM PST  Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was christened a "rock-star diplomat" by The New York Times as her tenure was winding down. Her successor John Kerry was recently mocked by Washington Post columnist Jackson Diehl as a "self-deceiving bumbler." But now Kerry has achieved something that his predecessor never did: a breakthrough peace agreement. Does this mean that in less than a year Kerry has proven himself the better of President Obama's two secretaries of State?
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| Middle East unrest fuels Sunni-Shiite rift: experts Posted: 25 Nov 2013 04:19 PM PST  Relations between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in the Middle East could plunge to new lows as the violence in Syria worsens and sectarian rhetoric looms in upcoming Iraqi elections, experts say. Bombings and shootings also continue to plague Iraq. "The state of play is awful and it's getting worse," said Fanar Haddad, a research fellow at the National University of Singapore's Middle East Institute and author of "Sectarianism in Iraq". "You've got the cumulative effect of 10 years of Iraq, and at the tail end of that, you've got Syria.... I shudder to think where all this is heading.
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