Mubarak verdict fuels protests, mockery in Egypt

By Amr Dalsh
CAIRO, Sun Nov 30, 2014 9:01am EST

1 of 3. Anti-Mubarak protesters shout slogans against government and military rules after the verdict of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's trial, around Abdel Moneim Riad square in downtown Cairo November 29, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
CAIRO, (Reuters) - Protests erupted at universities across Egypt on Sunday, condemning a court decision to drop criminal charges against Hosni Mubarak, the president whose ouster in the 2011 uprising raised hopes of a new era of political openness.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at Cairo University, waving pictures of Mubarak behind bars and demanding the "fall of the regime", the rallying cry of the Arab Spring uprisings that shook governments from Tunisia to the Gulf in 2011.
Police stood ready at the gates to bar students that sought to take their demonstration into the streets.
An Egyptian court on Saturday dropped its case against Mubarak over the killing of protesters in the 2011 uprising that ended his 30-year rule.
The ruling was seen by activists as the latest sign that the rights won during the revolt are being eroded.
Two people were killed and nine were wounded on Saturday evening, when security forces fired tear gas and birdshot to disperse about 1,000 protesters who attempted to enter Tahrir Square -- the symbolic heart of the revolt that ousted Mubarak.
Security forces closed a Cairo metro station, the state news agency said, an apparent effort to prevent gatherings downtown.
Clashes also erupted at Zagazig University in the Nile Delta, and the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper said 11 students were detained after setting fire to a building.
Many Egyptians who lived through the rule of former air force officer Mubarak view it as a period of autocracy and crony capitalism.
His overthrow led to Egypt's first free election. But the winner, Mohamed Mursi, was ousted last year by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, another military officer who won a presidential vote in May.
Egyptian authorities have since jailed Mursi and thousands of his Muslim Brotherhood supporters, sentencing hundreds to death in mass trials that drew international criticism.
By contrast, Mubarak-era figures have been released and new laws curtailing political freedoms have raised fears among activists that the old leadership is back.
"Down with Hosni Mubarak, down with every Mubarak, down with military rule" said one Facebook page that called for protests against the ruling.
The verdict has also prompted a deluge of online cartoons about the return of the old guard.
One animated video begins with a group of Mubarak-era politicians in a darkened cell facing an array of charges. One by one they are released and end up celebrating their freedom with their former president, singing "yes, we are back".
(Reporting by Amr Dalsh, Ali Abdelaty and Lin Noueihed; Editing by Rosalind Russell)

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Iraq's divisions will delay counter-offensive on Islamic State

By Dominic Evans
BAGHDAD Sun Nov 30, 2014 1:11am EST

Members of the Iraqi security forces and Shi'ite fighters take part during an intensive security deployment in the town of Qara Tappa in Iraq's Diyala province November 26, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Stringer
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. air support and pledges of weapons and training for Iraq's army have raised expectations of a counter-offensive soon against Islamic State, but sectarian rifts will hamper efforts to forge a military strategy and may delay a full-scale assault.
The Sunni Islamists stormed through northern Iraq in a 48-hour offensive in June, charging virtually unopposed toward the outskirts of Baghdad, humiliating a U.S.-trained Iraqi army which surrendered both land and weapons as it retreated.
By contrast, even a successful effort by the Shi'ite-led government to dislodge Islamic State, also known as ISIS, from Sunni territory where it rules over millions of Iraqis would be fiercely fought and could stretch well beyond next year.
The Baghdad government relies on Shi'ite militias and Kurdish peshmerga to contain Islamic State - a dependence which underlines and may even exacerbate the sectarian rivalry which opened the door for the summer offensive.
U.S. newspapers have cited officials in Washington saying the Americans' training mission aims to prepare Iraqi troops for a spring offensive to retake territory, including Mosul, northern Iraq's largest city and Islamic State's powerbase.
Hemin Hawrami, an official close to Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, told Reuters that Iraqi forces would not be ready to take the fight to Mosul, in Iraq, until late 2015.
"There will be no spring or summer (offensive)," he said, adding that progress depended on government willingness "to reorganize the army, how quickly they can solve political issues with us and the Sunnis, (and) how quick the coalition will be in providing heavy arms to peshmerga and the Iraqi army."
"CERTAIN VICTORY"
The army, Shi'ite militias and Kurdish fighters have made some gains against Islamic State, pushing back an advance toward Kurdish territory in August and last week recapturing towns in Diyala province, on the road from Baghdad to Iran.
The leader of the pro-Iranian Shi'ite Badr Organisation, whose fighters battled alongside peshmerga and soldiers in Diyala, said they would turn next to the Sunni provinces of Salahuddin and Anbar - north and west of Baghdad - before moving further north to Nineveh province, where Mosul lies.
"We are counting on the support of the Sunni tribal fighters. With them joining the fight, our victory is certain," Hadi al-Amiri told Reuters by telephone from Diyala province.
Amiri said he expected to get weapons not just from the Iraqi government, which may allocate a quarter of next year's $100 billion budget to the military, but also from the $1.6 billion of arms and training which Washington plans to deliver.
Both Amiri's assumptions look optimistic, as Washington and the Sunni tribes are deeply wary of Shi'ite militia forces.
Iraqi authorities aim to overcome the deep rifts between Shi'ites, Sunni Arabs, Kurds and other groups by absorbing local fighters into a state-funded National Guard, but the role of that force remains undecided.
LONG WAR
Government adviser Zuhair al-Chalabi told Reuters the army was in no shape to surge north and Mosul's mainly Sunni residents would resist a campaign by Shi'ite militias alone.
Instead, a combined force of army soldiers, Sunni tribes, Kurdish peshmerga and Shi'ite fighters must be assembled - and the open border with Islamic State territory in Syria sealed.
"There is a plan, but it can't be implemented that quickly," said Chalabi, who is from Mosul.
Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Islamic State was still a formidable force but was losing the ability to conduct major ground combat because that exposed it to air strikes.
Zebari, a Kurd, declined to give details of the military strategies of either the Baghdad government or the semi-autonomous Kurdish authorities, but said "planning and coordination are already under way" for the battle for Mosul.
"I am really not aware of spring offensives. The offensive is on - spring, summer, winter. We countered them in autumn. This is an ongoing battle with them."
The United States is setting up four training camps for Iraq's 80,000-strong armed forces - two around Baghdad, one in the Kurdish city of Arbil and the fourth in Anbar.
Washington has also set out plans to provide body armor and guns to 45,000 soldiers, 15,000 Kurdish peshmerga and 5,000 Sunni tribal forces.
A senior Western diplomat in Baghdad said the training might take six months, with the first round complete in late spring.
While he argued that the tide had turned against Islamic State in northern Iraq and was moving against it elsewhere, fighting was likely to stretch into 2016.
And without control over the border, Islamic State fighters could slip away and regroup in Syria. "It's the balloon theory. You squeeze one part and it pops up elsewhere," he said.
Hawrami, the Kurdish official, foresaw a protracted and potentially inconclusive battle.
"In order to guarantee their defeat in Mosul we have to defeat them in Syria as well," he said. "ISIS cannot be vanquished. ISIS can be degraded and weakened, but this process of degrading and weakening needs years."
(Additional reporting by Michael Georgy and Saif Hameed in Baghdad and Isabel Coles in Arbil; Editing by Michael Georgy and Robin Pomeroy)

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Kabul police chief quits after South African family die in Taliban attack

By Kay Johnson and Jessica Donati
KABUL Sun Nov 30, 2014 10:43am EST

1 of 2. Smoke and fire rise from a foreign aid workers' guest house after a Taliban attack in Kabul November 29, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Omar Sobhani
KABUL (Reuters) - The Kabul police chief resigned on Sunday after Taliban gunmen killed three members of a South African family in the capital, while officials said Afghan forces had ousted insurgents trying to seize former U.S. and British base Camp Bastion in the south.
Taliban fighters breached the perimeter of Camp Bastion in the southern Afghan province of Helmand three days ago, just one month after the base was handed over to the Afghan army.
The latest Taliban attacks have dented confidence in the country's security force and added to concern the police and army will struggle to hold strategic territory after most foreign troops pull out at the end of 2014.
The guest house attacked by the Taliban in Kabul on Saturday, the third attack on a foreign guest house in 10 days, was home to staff of the U.S.-based charity Partnership in Academics and Development (PAD).
PAD said on its website that three people were killed by insurgents who used guns and explosives. They were identified as members of the same South African family - a father and his two teenage children - by a colleague of the mother, who was not in the compound at the time.
The family had lived in Afghanistan for nearly 12 years, with the father running the charity and the mother working as a doctor at a Kabul clinic, the colleague said.
The Taliban said on Saturday they had attacked the foreign guesthouse because they believed it to be a Christian center. This was the second time this year the Taliban targeted a group that it said had links to Christianity.
The 17-year-old son had been applying to universities in the United States, while his sister was 14, according to their mother's colleague, who asked not to be identified for security reasons.
Kabul's police spokesman declined to comment on the reason for the chief's resignation.
"We can only confirm... he will not continue his job as police chief anymore," Hashmat Stanekzai said.
PAD, which supports education in Afghanistan, could not be reached immediately for comment.
Violence across Afghanistan has surged this year as the Taliban and their allies have stepped up their activities ahead of the scheduled withdrawal of most international troops by the end of next month.
Over the past 10 days, three compounds used by foreign organizations have been hit by armed attackers. In separate attacks in Kabul, two American soldiers, two British embassy workers and dozens of Afghan civilians have died.
In Helmand province, Afghan soldiers ousted a group of Taliban from Camp Bastion after a third day of fighting. At least five soldiers were killed in the battle that started late on Thursday.
By Sunday, troops were clearing the part of the sprawling base that had been seized by a few dozen insurgents, according to the governor's spokesman, Omar Zwak.
Violence in another part of Helmand added to the weekend toll, Zwak said, with 12 soldiers dying in Sangin district after their smaller outpost was attacked.
(This story has been refiled to fix layout of third paragraph, no change to text)
(Additional reporting by Mirwais Harooni; Editing by Richard Borsuk and Raissa Kasolowsky)

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QE or not QE? Spotlight on the ECB as inflation dips

By Ingrid Melander
PARIS Sun Nov 30, 2014 4:02am EST

A euro logo sculpture stands in front the headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt October 26, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Ralph Orlowski
PARIS (Reuters) - The ECB's monthly rate meeting will focus minds this week on the debate over quantitative easing in the euro zone, as a series of data releases on both sides of the Atlantic sheds more light on European woes and U.S. strength.
Final purchasing manager indices for Europe and the United States, U.S. monthly jobs data and the European Central Bank's updated forecasts will all provide clues to assessing the relative health of both regions.
The ECB staff inflation and growth estimates for the 18-nation single currency union are much awaited after data showed on Friday that inflation in the bloc was back to a five-year low, putting more pressure on the bank to take action.
Particular attention will be paid to internal debate within the ECB over quantitative easing and to ECB chief Mario Draghi's comments on the data at his monthly news conference on Thursday, after his pledge to act to lift "excessively low" inflation.
The ECB is expected to leave key rates unchanged and wait for next year to decide whether to take the leap to government bond-buying.
A decision on QE may come as early as the first quarter, Vice President Vitor Constancio said last week. But arch-hawk German ECB policymaker Jens Weidmann responded that there were "legal limits" on printing money to buy government bonds.
"The ECB's communication has not always been crystal clear this year, but overall it has moved steadily towards a more dovish stance despite internal tensions within the Governing Council," French bank Credit Agricole wrote in a note.
"We expect no sovereign QE announcement at the December 4 meeting but a more formal, albeit conditional commitment to broader asset purchases."
JOBS AND OIL
Friday's monthly U.S. job figures will be the key data in the United States. Non-farm payrolls are expected to show an increase of 228,000 in November, according to a Reuters poll.
The unemployment rate fell to a six-year low in October, underscoring the economy's resilience in the face of slowing global demand. Wage growth remained tepid, though, suggesting little need for the Federal Reserve to hurry to start lifting interest rates.
On Thursday, the Bank of England looks set to keep interest rates on hold at a record low 0.5 percent - that's the unanimous expectation of analysts polled by Reuters. The day before that, Finance Minister George Osborne will deliver his Autumn budget update to parliament.
The first hike in British interest rates is expected to come in the third quarter of 2015, six months later than previously thought, owing to low inflation, sluggish pay growth and a weak euro zone economy, a Reuters poll showed.
Final purchasing managers indices are published after flash estimates came in lower than expected for the euro zone. New orders fell for the first time in more than a year.
The U.S. flash PMI showed a fifth consecutive monthly slowing in growth in services, although the pace of expansion remained robust by historical standards.
In China, the official manufacturing purchasing managers' index is likely to show on Monday that manufacturing slowed slightly in November as demand remained sluggish, a Reuters poll showed.
However China's central bank will wait until fourth-quarter economic data is out and monitor U.S. and Japanese monetary policy before considering any more rate cuts or easing, a central bank adviser said on Tuesday.
Falling oil prices will be another point of focus, after producer group OPEC decided not to cut crude production last week despite global oversupply.
Besides adding to Draghi's headaches as it pushes inflation in Europe even lower, the fall in oil prices is also hurting the economies, currencies and financial markets of many producer countries.
(Reporting by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Mark John, Larry King)

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Large, unauthorized convoy enters east Ukraine from Russia: Ukrainian military

KIEV Sun Nov 30, 2014 8:46am EST

Russian humanitarian trucks are seen in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, November 30, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Antonio Bronic
KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine said on Sunday that a convoy of 106 vehicles had entered its eastern territory from Russia without Kiev's permission and accused Moscow of once again using humanitarian aid shipments to send weapons and ammunition to separatist rebels.
In the separatist-held city of Donetsk, fighting intensified at the local airport, a Reuters witness said. There has been continued shelling from both government forces and the rebels, even after a peace deal signed on Sept. 5.
Months of fighting in Ukraine's separatist regions have left many without sufficient food and medical supplies. Russia has regularly dispatched shipments of aid, a move which the pro-Western Kiev government has denounced as cynical.
"The lion's share of humanitarian supplies find their way to the rebels partly in the form of food, but mostly it is ammunition, equipment and other things for combat operations," Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said in a televised briefing.
The latest delivery of Russian supplies is the eighth since mid-August, Russian news agency RIA cited Russia's emergency ministry as saying, adding that a total of 9,500 tonnes of mainly food, building materials and medicine had been delivered by the first seven convoys.
A Reuters witness in Donetsk said repeated volleys of artillery fire could be heard from the direction of the local airport, a strategic point that both Ukrainian troops and rebels lay claim to.
Both sides have accused each other of violating the terms of the truce, raising fears it could collapse entirely.
Lysenko said three Ukrainian servicemen and an 82-year-old civilian had been killed in the past 24 hours.
He also said Ukrainian positions in Mariupol, a strategic city on the Sea of Azov, were once again coming under attack from rebel shelling.
(Reporting by Natalia Zinets in Kiev, Maria Tsvetkova in Donetsk; Additional reporting by Alexander Winning in Moscow; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

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Ivory Coast army protests sow fears of return to unrest

By Joe Bavier
ABIDJAN Sun Nov 30, 2014 3:44am EST

Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara (R) salutes while walking next to Chief of Staff, General Soumaila Bakayoko during a parade to commemorate the country's 54th Independence Day, outside the presidential palace in Abidjan August 7, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Luc Gnago
ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Protests by disgruntled soldiers in Ivory Coast have exposed the government's failure to reform its mutiny-plagued armed forces and its rapid capitulation sets a dangerous precedent in a country with bright economic prospects.
Ivory Coast - French-speaking West Africa's largest economy - is emerging from a decade of crisis that ended in a brief civil war in 2011. Its rapid revival and vast potential have made it the new darling of frontier investors in Africa.
When thousands of soldiers poured out of barracks and erected barricades in towns across the country this month, it was a stark reminder of the coups, mutinies and rebellions that have crippled the world's top cocoa grower.
President Alassane Ouattara has received credit for overseeing Ivory Coast's economic renaissance, but has struggled to reform an army thrown together from former government loyalists and ex-rebels.
"The army has always been the weak point and it really surprises me they didn't learn the lessons of the past," said Rinaldo Depagne, West Africa project director for International Crisis Group.
The protesters were former members of the New Forces rebels, who three years ago fought alongside U.N. and French troops to install Ouattara in power after incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept his victory in 2010 elections.
Thousands were to receive army salaries from 2009 under a peace deal that eventually collapsed, but Gbagbo never paid them. And after Ouattara took over in 2011, authorities brushed off their repeated demands for back pay and benefits until Nov. 18, when the soldiers hit the street.
"Their message was heard. The President of the Republic has understood it," Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko said on the evening news broadcast just hours later, promising talks and pledging that the protesters would not be punished.
The next day, with the government forced to the negotiating table, it was the low-ranking, angry ex-rebels who were clearly in charge, forcing a delegation of top ministers to capitulate.
WHO'S NEXT?
While government initially estimated the cost of settling the dispute at around 20 billion CFA francs ($38 million), diplomats put the final figure at around $75 million.
Though a drain on public finances, most analysts and observers concede that Ouattara's weak position left him little choice but to pay up. The greater worry, they say, is what might follow, since many other former rebels have their own demands.
"Since the mutiny, the ambiance in the camp has changed," said one soldier involved in the protests. "We've split into groups. Some are with the chiefs, some are with us. We talk among ourselves. We don't mix anymore."
The past two decades have seen the Ivorian military morph into an unruly beast as successive leaders added new layers of recruits in a misguided attempt to ensure loyalty.
President Henri Konan Bedie favored his own Baoule ethnic group but neglected to pay other soldiers, setting the stage for the army coup that forced him from power on Christmas Eve 1999.
Gbagbo, from the southwest, stacked the security forces with fellow westerners after his election in 2000 but nearly fell to a mutiny by marginalized northern soldiers two years later.
That uprising split the country in half for eight years during which the New Forces rebels recruited thousands of new fighters. Following the rebel victory in 2011, these poorly trained troops also joined the army.
However, they still answer to their powerful rebel commanders, known as 'comzones', who now hold top army posts and have their own competing loyalties to Ouattara, Bakayoko or former rebel leader turned parliament speaker Guillaume Soro.
"The problem is that you have many, many chains of command within the army and nobody's really controlling it from the civilian side," Depagne said.
Ouattara has sought to rein in the chaos with a plan to disarm and demobilize some 74,000 ex-combatants by June.
Critics claim the program has recuperated few weapons and ignored thousands of fighters never formally registered by the New Forces but who remain armed. This group, alongside demobilized ex-fighters, made up a significant part of last week's protesters.
But their demands, which ranged from calls for integration in the army to payment of large bonuses for fighting Gbagbo, were not discussed in the talks. These fighters are blamed for a spike in armed highway attacks and violent crime in parts of the commercial capital Abidjan.
"They are the most dangerous element out there because they are armed, they are quasi-organized and they have a command structure through the old comzones," one western diplomat said.
To ensure stability in the short term, Ouattara, who is seeking reelection next year, must live up to the pledges he made to the protesters last week. The long-term damage caused by the brief uprising will be harder to repair.
"Who's going to come out next?" the diplomat said. "They're opening Pandora's Box. Everybody's got a grievance. Everybody's got something they think they're owed."
(Additional reporting by Ange Aboa; Editing by Daniel Flynn)

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Hong Kong protesters clash with police near heart of financial district

HONG KONG Sun Nov 30, 2014 9:41am EST

1 of 3. Police use pepper spray during clashes with pro-democracy protesters close to the chief executive office in Hong Kong, November 30, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Tyrone Siu
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hundreds of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists scuffled with police on Sunday as they tried to encircle government headquarters, defying orders for protesters to retreat after more than two months of demonstrations.
With the crowds chanting "surround government headquarters" and "open the road", hundreds of people made their way to the buildings in Admiralty, next to the city's central business district and some of the world's most expensive real estate.
Police used pepper spray to disperse the protesters, dragging two to the ground before arresting and cuffing them with plastic ties and taking them away. Scores of demonstrators held up umbrellas, which have become a symbol of the pro-democracy movement, to protect themselves from pepper spray.
The scuffles came after two student groups, who have led the two-month long civil disobedience campaign, urged supporters to escalate their actions at the main protest site in the city's government neighborhood of Admiralty.
Protesters are demanding free elections for the city's next leader in 2017, not the vote between pre-screened candidates that Beijing has said it will allow.
The flare-up comes after four nights of clashes in the gritty, working class district of Mong Kok, across the harbor from Admiralty, after police on Wednesday cleared that area -- one of the city's largest and most volatile protest sites.
The latest clashes underscore the obstacles authorities face as a restive younger generation challenges Beijing's grip on the financial hub and demands for greater democracy.
Twenty-eight people were arrested in the unrest on Friday night and early Saturday in Mong Kok, which is packed with shops, street stalls, jewelry shops and restaurants.
The democracy movement represents one of the biggest threats for China's Communist Party leadership since its bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy student protests in and around Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
The Hong Kong rallies drew more than 100,000 on to the streets at their peak. Numbers have since dwindled to a few hundred and public support for the movement has waned.
(Reporting by Clare Baldwin, James Pomfret and Diana Chan, Editing by Anne Marie Roantree and Crispian Balmer)

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China's Xi strikes conciliatory note, broadens diplomatic focus

BEIJING Sun Nov 30, 2014 2:29am EST

China's President Xi Jinping attends a news conference in Wellington, November 20, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Anthony Phelps
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's President Xi Jinping ratcheted down Beijing's heated rhetoric and called on the government to expand its foreign policy agenda through cooperation and diplomacy.
China should "promote peaceful resolution of differences and disputes between countries through dialogue and consultation, and oppose the willful use of threat of force," Xi said in a major policy address this weekend, according to a report by the official Xinhua News Agency late on Saturday.
"We have advocated the building of a new type of international relations underpinned by win-win cooperation," Xi told a meeting of top leaders convened by the Communist Party to discuss foreign policy. China championed "a new vision featuring common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security."
Xi's remarks are the latest indication that China is adopting more conciliatory foreign policy tactics and addressing fears its economic growth will inevitably spawn a more muscular diplomatic and military approach.
Earlier this month, China attempted to mollify relations with Vietnam, the Philippines and the U.S. during the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which was hosted in Beijing.
China also has promised more than $120 billion since May to Africa, Southeast Asia and Central Asia, including a $40-billion New Silk Road fund and a $50-billion Beijing-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
"We should increase China's soft power, give a good Chinese narrative, and better communicate China's message to the world," Xi said.
China also should "firmly uphold" its "territorial sovereignty, maritime rights and interest and national unity," Xi said.
Beijing in recent months has adopted an activist approach to securing its claims to areas of the South China Sea.
Last week, China's foreign ministry hit back at "irresponsible remarks" from the United States, which has called on Beijing to stop a land reclamation project in the disputed Spratly Islands, after a leading defense publication said satellite images showed China was building an island on a reef that could be large enough to accommodate an airstrip.
China lays claim to almost all of the South China Sea, believed to be rich with minerals and oil-and-gas deposits and one of Asia's most likely flashpoints. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan also have claims.
"Our biggest opportunity lies in China's steady development and the growth in its strength," Xi said.
(Reporting by Matthew Miller; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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Nigeria mosque blast kills more than 102, bears Boko Haram hallmarks

 More than 102 people were killed in the bomb explosions at the central mosque in this city, said a hospital worker.

A mortuary attendant at the Murtala specialist hospital Kano, Malam Isa Labaran, on Saturday told Associated Press that he counted over 102 dead bodies deposited inside the mortuary on Friday after the multiple explosions at the mosque.

“I was asked to be counting those deposited and I counted over 102 dead bodies before I was asked to stop,” he said.

The death toll is higher because more bodies were taken to the Nassarawa hospital, said Labaran.

Hundreds had gathered in the mosque Friday to listen to a sermon in a region terrorized by attacks from the extremist group Boko Haram. Multiple explosions ripped through the mosque.

Witnesses said heavy smoke could be seen billowing in the sky from a long distance away. Immediately after the blasts, hundreds of angry youths took to the streets in riots, throwing stones, brandishing sticks and shouting at security officials.The palace of the Emir of Kano is near the central mosque. The Emir, one of the highest ranking Islamic figures in Nigeria, is currently out of the country, said palace officials.

Boko Haram has not claimed responsibility, but the attack bears the hallmarks of the militant group that has carried out numerous such attacks in northern Nigeria, including in Kano. In September, two suicide bombers killed at least 15 students at a government college and in July, five suicide bombings were carried out over the course of a week. More than 1,500 have been killed this year in the insurgency, according to Amnesty International.

The attack was condemned by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who called the attack “horrific,” pledged U.N. support for Nigeria’s fight against terrorism, and called for the perpetrators to be swiftly brought to justice, according to his spokesman.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan condemned the attack and reiterated the government’s determination to “continue to take every step to put an end to the reprehensible acts of all groups and persons involved in acts of terrorism.”

Чтобы остановить Колтс, краснокожих постарается греметь Удача

Когда тренерский штаб краснокожих говорит о Эндрю Лак, это не только на словах. Это признание того, что, только его третий сезон, защитник Колтс уже доказал, что он принадлежит к числу элиты игры.

"Он, очевидно, на темпе, чтобы быть одним из великих," сказал тренер Джей Gruden.


Причина успеха Удача? Конечно, он имеет богатый опыт в про-стиль преступление датируется время своего пребывания в Стэнфорде. И, конечно, он имеет точность и сообразительности прототипом кармана прохожего, набор навыков и подобает игроку, который возглавляет лигу с 3641 мимолетных ярдов.

Но, прежде всего, краснокожих тренеры говорят, что, Удача просто плоский из жестко.

"Он будет принять удар, и это никак не влияет его," сказал Haslett. "Таким образом, предметом не только ударить его, или оказать давление на него, или получить защитник попал.Объект у вас есть, чтобы получить мешок на него или принять мяч и попытаться выбить ее у него, что не так легко, потому что он большой человек существо. "...

Three dead in attack and Islamist protests in Egypt

CAIRO Fri Nov 28, 2014 7:00pm EST

1 of 13. Army soldiers take their positions with their armoured personnel vehicle during clashes with supporters of Muslim Brotherhood and ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi in the Cairo suburb of Matariya November 28, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
CAIRO (Reuters) - Three people including an army general were killed and at least 28 wounded on Friday in militant attacks, some claimed by a group loyal to Islamic State, and clashes at Islamist protests around Egypt, security sources and health officials said.
Police were out in force at the demonstrations, organized by a hardline Salafi group calling for removal of the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the ex-army chief who led the overthrow of elected Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in July 2013.
In Matariya, focal point for protests in Cairo, a civilian died before the gathering was dispersed, security sources said.
Hours before, an army brigadier general was killed and two soldiers wounded when gunmen in an unmarked car fired on a parking lot in nearby Gesr al-Suez, they said. One soldier later died.
The demonstrations were small. Reuters witnesses saw just 100 or 200 people in Matariya.
The Interior Ministry said it thwarted 10 planned bombings and arrested 224 people nationwide on Friday.
One officer was shot in Alexandria and a bomb injured four police in the Nile Delta town of Sharqiya. In Al-Arish, in largely lawless northern Sinai province, a bomb wounded six policemen, security sources said.
Violence also erupted in Beni Soueif, a southern town, and Kafr Sheikh in the Delta, they said.
Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, Egypt's most active militant group, appeared to take responsibility for some attacks via what claims to be its official Twitter account.
Ansar has pledged loyalty to Islamic State, the ultra-hardline Sunni militants that captured territory in Iraq and Syria, and claimed responsibility for shooting the general, the Sinai bomb and another attack in Qalyubiyah province.
Reuters could not confirm the group's claims.
Since Mursi's ouster, Egypt has cracked down on his Muslim Brotherhood supporters, arresting thousands and sentencing hundreds to death in trials that drew international criticism.
Hundreds of Brotherhood supporters were killed in August 2013 when security forces cleared two protest camps in one of the bloodiest days in Egypt's modern history.
That crackdown and laws banning unsanctioned protests have dampened enthusiasm for the kind of mass rallies that helped remove President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and Mursi last year.
Authorities have tried to curb radical preaching, replacing thousands of imams and controlling Friday sermons.
The Salafi Front designated Friday's protests the "Uprising of Islamist Youth", alienating secular critics of Sisi and limiting turnout.
(Reporting by Shadi Bushra, Mostafa Hashem and Lin Noueihed; Editing by Andrew Roche and Gunna Dickson)

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U.S. Black Friday shopping marked by thinner crowds, protests

By Nandita Bose and Nathan Layne
WEST HARTFORD, Conn./CHICAGO Fri Nov 28, 2014 6:14pm EST

1 of 15. A Walmart employee helps a customer with a 50' TV on sale for $218 on Black Friday in Broomfield, Colorado November 28, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Rick Wilking
WEST HARTFORD, Conn./CHICAGO (Reuters) - Mall crowds were relatively thin on Black Friday in a sign of what has become the new normal in U.S. holiday shopping: the mad rush is happening the night of Thanksgiving and more consumers are picking up deals online.
Across the United States, shoppers were greeted by protesters at hundreds of stores - some calling for higher wages at Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N), others protesting the decision of a grand jury not to indict a white police officer in the August shooting of an 18-year-old unarmed black man in Ferguson, Missouri.
Most major retailers now open Thursday evening and are extending holiday deals rather than limiting them to one day. The result is a quieter experience on a day that has traditionally kicked off the holiday shopping season, and often drawn chaotic crowds.
Black Friday has ranked as the busiest U.S. shopping day in terms of sales and traffic since 2005, according to ShopperTrak. But as demand shifts to Thursday and even earlier in the month, the research firm predicts that "Super Saturday" on Dec. 20 will be the most active day this year.
"It just looks like any other weekend," said Angela Olivera, a 32-year-old housewife shopping for children's clothing at the Westfarms Mall near Hartford, Connecticut. "The kind of crowds we usually see are missing and this is one of the biggest malls here. I think people are just not spending a lot."
The crowds normally reserved for Black Friday morning appeared on Thursday night. For instance, more than 15,000 people lined up for the opening of the flagship store of Macy's Inc (M.N) in New York on Thursday. Retailers also said they were capturing more of the holiday budget online.
Shares of Macy's, Wal-Mart and Target Corp (TGT.N) closed from 2 to 3 percent higher on Friday as investors were encouraged by the long lines on Thursday night and executives made bullish comments about demand. Lower gasoline prices also helped boost the shares, analysts said.
"It's off to a good start," said Charlie O'Shea, a retail analyst at Moody's Investors Service, about the shopping season after visiting nearly two dozen stores in northern New Jersey over the past two days.
In downtown Chicago, police arrested 11 people associated with workers' rights group OUR Walmart for blocking traffic in front of a Walmart store. The protest was one of 1,600 planned across the United States by the group, which is pushing for higher wages and benefits for the retailer's employees.
"Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart you're no good. Treat your workers like you should," a crowd of several dozen shouted outside the store.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan said: "The crowds are mostly made up of paid union demonstrators, and they do not represent the views of the 1.3 million associates" who work for the company, the largest private employer in the United States.
Buchanan also said one of the demonstrators hit a customer at the Chicago store, prompting a complaint to the police.
OUR Walmart representative Georges Tounou said the group carried out its protest peacefully.
Overall Black Friday online sales as of 1500 EST (2000 GMT) were up 8 percent from a year earlier, according to IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark. Online sales were up 14.3 percent on Thanksgiving Day.
Wal-Mart said Thursday was its second-highest online sales day ever after last year's Cyber Monday, which is the Monday after Thanksgiving, when online retailers promote bargains.
Target CEO Brian Cornell said his company rang up a record day of online sales on Thursday, and was seeing brisk demand in its stores. He said the company was selling 1,800 televisions a minute between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Thursday night.
Heavy traffic caused the Best Buy Co Inc (BBY.N) website to crash for a little over an hour earlier on Friday, but as of afternoon it was back up and running, a company spokesman said.
The National Retail Federation is projecting that sales for November and December will rise 4.1 percent to $616.9 billion, which would mark the most bountiful holiday season in three years. Holiday sales grew 3.1 percent in 2013.
Some shoppers said the price of gasoline - expected to go even lower after the price of crude oil fell to a multi-year low - could make them more inclined to spend.
"My budget is pretty tight this year and gas is a tremendous expense because I have to drive my daughter around a lot," Kristen Akeley, 46, who works at an elementary school, said while shopping for clothes at a Target in Connecticut.
"My gas expense has fallen from $150 a week to $80 a week and that is big savings at this time of the year."
(Additional reporting by Beth Pinsker in Ventnor, New Jersey; Editing by Jilian Mincer, Paul Simao and Matthew Lewis)

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Ferguson police officer who killed black teen resigns from force

By Daniel Wallis and Edward McAllister
FERGUSON, Mo. Sat Nov 29, 2014 11:01pm EST

Officer Darren Wilson is pictured in this undated handout evidence photo from the August 9 Ferguson Police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, released by the St. Louis County Prosecutor's Office on November 24, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/St. Louis County Prosecutor's Office/Handout via Reuters
FERGUSON, Mo. (Reuters) - The white police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager in a St. Louis suburb has resigned, his lawyer said on Saturday, as activists set out on a 120-mile (193-km) march to protest the killing and a grand jury's decision not to indict him.
The resignation of Darren Wilson from the Ferguson, Missouri, police force comes nearly four months after he killed 18-year-old Michael Brown and days after the announcement that he would not face criminal charges.
The incident, which has led to months of sometimes violent protests in Ferguson, has reignited a debate over race relations and the use of police force in the United States.
Neil Bruntrager, an attorney for Wilson, confirmed that the officer had submitted his resignation, a move that was long anticipated, no matter the outcome of the grand jury's deliberations.
"In terms of his safety, it is probably the best thing for him," said Cynthia Burnes, 26, a nurse's assistant from St. Louis who was among about 50 people gathered in front of the Ferguson police headquarters on Saturday evening. "He is black-listed from this moment on."
A man was arrested at the scene after he knelt in the middle of the street with his hands raised, chanting "Hands up, don't shoot," a common refrain at Ferguson protests.
In a letter published by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Wilson said he had been told that "my continued employment may put the residents and police officers of the City of Ferguson at risk, which is a circumstance that I cannot allow."
Wilson, who said he was acting in self-defense when he shot Brown, said he wanted to wait until after the grand jury's decision before he made his decision to resign, according to the letter.
After a night of arson and looting in Ferguson following the decision, demonstrations this week spread to other major U.S. cities, with some of the protests targeting shopping malls on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, as the holiday shopping season got under way.
On Saturday, activists shifted gears by setting off on a seven-day march from Ferguson to Jefferson City, the state capital. The march, reminiscent of the civil rights marches of the 1960s, was organized by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
The NAACP is calling for a reform of police practices, a new police chief in Ferguson and a national law to prevent racial profiling by police.
More than 150 people set out on the "Journey for Justice" from the Canfield Green Apartments, near the spot where Brown was shot and killed, with some marchers singing the decades-old protest song "We Shall Overcome."
Sandra Henry, 53, a registered nurse from St. Louis, said she was marching to press for reform of police practices.
"This isn't just about St. Louis. We are speaking for other cities, other countries too," Henry said.
All told, about 100 marchers were expected to make the entire journey, with about 1,000 expected to be part of the final leg of the march, said NAACP staff member Jamiah Adams.
By nightfall, a dozen people had gathered at the Ferguson police station, the scene of some of this week's worst riots. No police officers were standing out front but a small crew of national guard lingered in the back.
The shooting and its aftermath are taking a toll on the state's finances. Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has called for the state assembly to convene for a special session to approve more funds for the Missouri Highway Patrol and the National Guard after months of protests over Brown's death.
In New York, activists rallied in Harlem on Saturday to draw parallels between Brown's death and what they see as other cases of unjustified police violence.
(Additional reporting by Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem, N.C., and Mary Wisniewski in Chicago; Writing by Frank McGurty; Editing by Clelia Oziel, Dan Grebler, Gunna Dickson and Clarence Fernandez)

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Syria says U.S.-led strikes have not weakened Islamic State

BEIRUT Fri Nov 28, 2014 9:39pm EST

A view shows debris at a school for the deaf and mute, destroyed in what activists said were overnight U.S.-led air strikes against the Islamic State, in Raqqa November 24, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Nour Fourat
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's foreign minister said U.S.-led air strikes had failed to weaken Islamic State it in Syria and the jihadist group would not be tackled unless Turkey was forced to tighten border controls.
A U.S.-led alliance started attacking Islamic State targets in Syria in September as part of a wider effort to destroy the al Qaeda offshoot that has seized large areas of the country and neighboring Iraq.
"All the indications say that (Islamic State) today, after two months of coalition air strikes, is not weaker," Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said in an interview with the Beirut-based Al Mayadeen TV broadcast on Friday.
The Syrian government has said it was willing to join the fight against Islamic State, but the United States refuses to deal with President Bashar al-Assad, who it says has lost legitimacy and must leave power.
"If the Security Council and Washington do not force Turkey to control its borders then all of this action will not eliminate (Islamic State)," Moualem said, referring to foreign jihadists who have crossed into Syria from Turkey.
Turkey, which has a 900 km (560-mile) frontier with Syria, has strongly denied accusations it has supported militant Islamists, inadvertently or otherwise, in its enthusiasm to help Syrian rebels topple Assad.
Thousands of foreign fighters are believed to have joined the Islamist militants in their self-proclaimed caliphate, carved out of eastern Syria and western Iraq.
Moualem said Turkish calls for the establishment of a no-fly zone in northern Syria would lead to the partition of the country, adding that Turkey had designs on Syrian territory.
Turkey has repeatedly said a no-fly zone should be put in place to create safe areas in Syria, allowing Syrian refugees in Turkey to be repatriated. Turkey's idea has received a cool reception from its allies. A top NATO general said this week the idea was not being considered.
Moualem held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the Black Sea as part of a renewed Russian diplomatic push to restart peace talks on Syria.
The effort is unlikely to get far because Russia rejects calls by Assad's Syrian, Western and Arab opponents for his swift departure. "After our discussions with the Russian side we agreed that the dialogue will be with the national opposition that is not linked to the outside," Moualem said.
(Writing by Tom Perry/Laila Bassam)

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Ferguson demonstrators begin 120-mile march to Missouri state capital

By Daniel Wallis and Edward McAllister
FERGUSON, Missouri Sat Nov 29, 2014 6:46pm EST

1 of 8. Protesters hold their hands up while marching down Market Street during a demonstration against the grand jury decision in the Ferguson, Missouri shooting of Michael Brown in San Francisco, California November 28, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Elijah Nouvelage
FERGUSON, Missouri (Reuters) - Activists in Ferguson, Missouri, on Saturday began a 120-mile march to the state capital to protest the killing of an unarmed black teen by a white police officer, a case that has rekindled a national debate over U.S. race relations.
The seven-day march to Jefferson City, organized by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, began with more than 150 people setting out from the Canfield Green Apartments, where 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed on Aug. 9 by Officer Darren Wilson.
The NAACP is calling for a reform of police practices, a new police chief in Ferguson and a national law to prevent racial profiling by police.
The "Journey for Justice," which is reminiscent of the civil rights marches of the 1960s, began with some people singing the decades-old protest song "We Shall Overcome." Participants carried signs proclaiming "Black Lives Matter" and "Equality Now!"
A grand jury's decision on Monday not to charge Wilson ignited protests in Ferguson and a riot that left buildings torched and stores looted. Wilson has said he acted in self-defense.
Since the announcement on Monday, demonstrations have spread to major cities across the United States, resulting in hundreds of arrests during the week, including at least 16 arrests overnight in Ferguson, police said.
Sandra Henry, 53, a registered nurse from St. Louis, came to the Canfield Green Apartments to join the march and said she would like to see a change in how police operate.
"This isn't just about St. Louis. We are speaking for other cities, other countries too," Henry said.
All told, about 100 marchers were expected to make the entire journey, with more joining segments of the long walk, said NAACP staff member Jamiah Adams.
The NAACP expects about 1,000 people to be part of the final leg of the march, said Adams, who will participate along with other NAACP staff members and the organization's president, Cornell William Brooks.
Marchers will be able to shuttle back and forth between the walk and their residences in the St. Louis area by taking a bus back to a staging area, Adams said.
Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has called for the state assembly to convene for a special session in the state capital to approve more funds for the Missouri Highway Patrol and the National Guard, after months of protests over Brown's death.
In New York, activists planned to rally in Harlem on Saturday to draw parallels between Brown's death and what they see as other cases of unjustified police violence.
(Additional reporting by Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem, N.C., Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Frank McGurty, Clelia Oziel and Dan Grebler)

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Bombs, gunfire kill 81 at crowded mosque in Nigeria's Kano

By Nnekule Ikemfuna
KANO, Nigeria Fri Nov 28, 2014 4:53pm EST

1 of 7. A crowd gathers at a scene of multiple bombings at Kano Central Mosque November 28, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Stringer
KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen set off three bombs and opened fire on worshippers at the main mosque in north Nigeria's biggest city Kano on Friday, killing at least 81 people, witnesses and officials said, in an attack that bore the hallmarks of Islamist Boko Haram militants.
Blasts from the coordinated assault rang out as scores of people packed into the ancient building's courtyard for afternoon prayers. "These people have bombed the mosque. I am face to face with people screaming," said local reporter Chijjani Usman.
The mosque is next to the palace of the emir of Kano, the second highest Islamic authority in Africa's most populous country and a vocal critic of Boko Haram. The emir, former central bank governor Lamido Sanusi, was not present.
Boko Haram, a Sunni jihadist movement which is fighting to revive a medieval Islamic caliphate in northern Nigeria, regards the traditional Islamic religious authorities in Nigeria with disdain.
It has attacked mosques that do not follow its radical ideology in a bloody near six-year campaign that has also targeted churches, schools, police stations, military bases and government buildings.
"After multiple explosions, they also opened fire. I cannot tell you the casualties because we all ran away," a member of staff at the palace told Reuters on Friday.
After the attacks, angry youths blocked the mosque's gates to police, who had to force their way in with tear gas.
Reuters visited two mortuaries, one with 20 bodies from the attack, the other with 61, according to medical officer Muhammad Ali. The victims had blast and gunshot wounds, he said.
President Goodluck Jonathan said in statement that he would "not to leave any stone unturned until all agents of terror undermining the right of every citizen to life and dignity are tracked down and brought to justice."
A MILLION DISPLACED
The old mosque and palace date back centuries to when Kano was one of several Islamic empires thriving off trade in gold, ivory and spices from caravan routes connecting Africa's interior with its Mediterranean coast -- glory days of Saharan Islam that Boko Haram says it wants to recreate.
Islamic leaders sometimes shy away from direct criticism of Boko Haram for fear of reprisals, but Kano's emir Sanusi, angered by atrocities such as the kidnapping of 200 schoolgirls from the village of Chibok in April, has become an increasingly vocal Boko Haram critic.
He was quoted in the local press as calling on Nigerians this month to defend themselves against Boko Haram. During a broadcast recitation of the Koran he was reported to have said:
"These people, when they attack towns, they kill boys and enslave girls. People must stand resolute ... They should acquire what they can to defend themselves. People must not wait for soldiers to protect them."
The insurgency has forced more than one million people to flee during its campaign focused on Nigeria's northeast, the Red Cross told reporters on Friday, an increase on a September U.N. refugee agency estimate of 700,000.
Persistent insecurity is dogging President Jonathan's campaign for re-election to a second term in February 2015. He has asked parliament for approval to extend an 18-month-old state of emergency in the northeast.
(Additional reporting by Julia Payne, Isaac Abrak and Abraham Terngu in Abuja; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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Brazil's Pele improving, still in intensive care: hospital

SAO PAULO Fri Nov 28, 2014 7:26am EST

Brazilian soccer legend Pele laughs during the inauguration of a refurbished soccer field at the Mineira slum in Rio de Janeiro September 10, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Ricardo Moraes/Files
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian soccer great Pele "is in better condition" though he remains in an intensive care unit being treated for a urinary tract infection, the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo said on Friday.
Pele, 74, is receiving renal support treatment, which helps kidneys to filter waste products from the blood, after surgery to remove kidney stones earlier this month. He is not on vasoactive drugs or other supportive therapies, the hospital said.
Pele, often called the greatest soccer player in history, has suffered a long list of health problems in the past decade, including emergency eye surgery for a detached retina and a hip replacement.
His manager, Paul Kemsley, said on Thursday he was expected to make a full recovery and that reports of his condition are being "greatly exaggerated."
Known as "the King of soccer" in Brazil, Pele played in four World Cups and helped Brazil win the global tournament three times, the last in Mexico in 1970.
(Reporting by Caroline Stauffer; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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Russia calls for end to sanctions as EU targets Ukraine separatists

By Vladimir Soldatkin and Robin Emmott
MOSCOW/BRUSSELS Sat Nov 29, 2014 11:32am EST

Russian President Vladmir Putin (L) speaks with Finance Minister Anton Siluanov during their meeting at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, July 18, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Alexei Babushkin/RIA Novosti/Kremlin
MOSCOW/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Russia urged the European Union on Saturday to lift sanctions against Moscow and promised to waive its food embargo, but a top EU official rejected such a move as the bloc imposed fresh measures on Ukrainian rebels.
The European Union and the United States imposed economic sanctions on Russia in late July, targeting the Russian energy, banking and defense sectors to punish Moscow's support for rebels in eastern Ukraine, the West's toughest steps yet.
In retaliation, Moscow has banned most Western food imports, worth $9 billion a year.
"We don't expect anything from our European partners. The only thing we expect is for them to leave the meaningless sanctions spiral and move onto the path of lifting the sanctions and dropping the blacklists," Russia's deputy foreign minister, Alexei Meshkov, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.
"This, in turn, would allow us to drop our lists."
The gesture from Moscow came as the European Union imposed sanctions on 13 Ukrainians accused of organizing rogue elections in eastern Ukraine on Nov. 2, hitting the separatists and their organizations with asset freezes and travel bans.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the new president of the European Commission, said Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region in March left Europe with two options: go to war against Russia or impose economic sanctions.
"If you don't want a war the only possibility is sanctions ... You have to take sanctions that produce an effect," Juncker told RTL radio in Luxembourg, his home country.
"One has to maintain those sanctions as long as, on the ground, we do not see Russian gestures aimed at pacifying the region," he said, referring to Ukraine.
Earlier this week, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said lower oil prices and Western financial sanctions will cost Russia around $130 billion-$140 billion a year, equivalent to around 7 percent of its economy.
Meshkov put the losses from sanctions for the EU at $50 billion next year, adding that trade turnover in some products between Russia and Europe had declined by double digit percentages.
A Reuters report this month showed that European exports to Russia fell almost 20 percent in August compared to July because of the sanctions.
'ILLEGAL, ILLEGITIMATE'
Juncker said he did not see the point of constantly threatening more sanctions but warned that more measures could come if Moscow did not take steps to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
EU officials are concerned that a September ceasefire in Ukraine is not being upheld and say that the vote by rebels in eastern Ukraine was encouraged by Russia to undermine Kiev's sovereignty.
Rebels argued the Nov. 2 vote was the next step after local referendums in May calling for independence from Ukraine.
The United States and European Union denounced the vote as "illegal and illegitimate", but Russia has said it would recognize the result, deepening a crisis that began with the popular overthrow of Ukraine's Moscow-backed president in February and Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula.
In its official journal, the European Union said Sergey Kozyakov, who was election commission chief in the Luhansk region "has actively supported actions and policies which undermine the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine".
Others on the sanctions list are election organizers and separatist ministers in Luhansk and in the eastern region of Donetsk. They are accused of the same wrongdoing as Kozyakov.
(Additional reporting by Michele Sinner in Luxembourg; Editing by Rosalind Russell)

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Egyptian court drops case against Mubarak over 2011 protest deaths

By Ali Abdelaty and Maggie Fick
CAIRO Sat Nov 29, 2014 6:31pm EST

1 of 6. Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak waves to his supporters as he returns to Maadi military hospital in Cairo November 29, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Asmaa Waguih
CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian court has dropped its case against former President Hosni Mubarak over the killing of protesters in the 2011 uprising that ended his 30-year rule and symbolized hopes for a new era of political openness and accountability.
Mubarak, 86, was sentenced to life in prison in 2012 for conspiring to murder 239 demonstrators, sowing chaos and creating a security vacuum during the 18-day revolt, but an appeals court ordered a retrial.
His supporters erupted in celebration when the verdicts of that retrial - which also cleared Mubarak's former interior minister, Habib al-Adly, and six aides - were read out. The defendants had denied the charges.
Supporters outside court, carrying pictures of the ex-air force officer who dominated the most populous Arab nation for three decades, far outnumbered families of protesters who died in the Tahrir Square revolt that had embodied the hopes of Arab Spring uprisings that spread through the region.
The judge said criminal charges should never have been brought against Mubarak. The decision can be appealed, however, and the former leader was not freed as he is serving a three-year jail term in a separate embezzlement case.
Many Egyptians who lived through Mubarak's rule view it as a period of autocracy and crony capitalism.
His overthrow led to Egypt's first free election. But the winner, Mohamed Mursi, was ousted last year by then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, following protests against his rule.
Sisi, who went on to win a presidential election in May, launched a crackdown on Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood. Authorities have jailed thousands of Brotherhood supporters and sentenced hundreds to death in mass trials that drew international criticism.
By contrast, Mubarak-era figures are slowly being cleared of charges and a series of laws curtailing political freedoms have raised fears among activists that the old leadership is regaining influence. Saturday's verdict was seen as the latest sign that rights won in 2011 were being eroded.
"This is a political verdict. The judiciary has been procrastinating for four years so they could clear him after hope had been lost," the father of Ahmed Khaleefa, 19, who was killed in 2011, told Reuters outside the court.
"The verdict hit us like bullets. I consider that my son Ahmed died today."
A few dozen young people gathered to protest the verdict in the city of Suez, site of the first death of the uprising. But they were quickly dispersed by police, security sources said.
Security forces fired tear gas and birdshot and aimed water hoses on a crowd of around a thousand demonstrators who had gathered in downtown Cairo.
They had been chanting slogans against Mubarak and against Sisi and Mursi, the two men who have served as president since him. An eyewitness said both Mursi supporters and liberal secular protesters appeared to be present.
Health Ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar told Reuters two protesters were killed and nine injured in the clashes but said he had no further details.
CLEARED OF GRAFT
Hundreds of people died when security forces clashed with protesters in the weeks before Mubarak was forced from power.
Othman al-Hefnawy, a lawyer representing some families of protesters who died, said the verdict left open the question: If Mubarak, his interior minister and their security aides were not responsible for the deaths of 239 protesters, then who was?
The court also cleared Mubarak and a former oil minister of graft charges related to gas exports to Israel.
In a separate corruption case, charges were dropped against Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal, with Judge Mahmoud Kamel al-Rashidi saying too much time had elapsed since the alleged crime took place for the court to rule.
State television showed Gamal and Alaa kissing their father's forehead after the ruling. Gamal also hugged former Interior Minister Adly, who appeared to be in tears. Mubarak's sons and Adly will also remain in jail serving other sentences.
Mubarak will remain in an army hospital, where he is serving the three-year embezzlement sentence handed down in May.
(Additional reporting by Mahmoud Mourad and Omar Fahmy in Cairo and Yusri Mohamed in Ismailia; Writing by Lin Noueihed; Editing by Ralph Boulton and Dan Grebler)

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Death toll from Ebola outbreak nears 7,000 in West Africa: WHO

DAKAR Sat Nov 29, 2014 6:59pm EST

A newly-built Ebola treatment center is pictured in Beyla, Guinea, November 25, 2014. Picture taken November 25, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Fabien Offner
DAKAR (Reuters) - The death toll from the worst Ebola outbreak on record has reached nearly 7,000 in West Africa, the World Health Organization said on Saturday.
The toll of 6,928 dead showed a leap of just over 1,200 since the WHO released its previous report on Wednesday.
The U.N. health agency did not provide any explanation for the abrupt increase, but the figures, published on its website, appeared to include previously unreported deaths.
A WHO spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.
Just over 16,000 people have been diagnosed with Ebola since the outbreak was confirmed in the forests of remote southeastern Guinea in March, according to the WHO data that covered the three hardest-hit countries.
Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have accounted for all but 15 of the deaths in the outbreak, which has touched five other countries, according to the previous WHO figures.
(Reporting by Daniel Flynn and Bate Felix; editing by Gunna Dickson)

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Exclusive: U.S. CEOs threaten to pull tacit Obamacare support over 'wellness' spat

By Sharon Begley
NEW YORK Sat Nov 29, 2014 7:30am EST

Cathey Park of Cambridge, Massachusetts shows her cast signed by U.S. President Barack Obama after he spoke about health insurance at Faneuil Hall in Boston October 30, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Leading U.S. CEOs, angered by the Obama administration's challenge to certain "workplace wellness" programs, are threatening to side with anti-Obamacare forces unless the government backs off, according to people familiar with the matter.
Major U.S. corporations have broadly supported President Barack Obama's healthcare reform despite concerns over several of its elements, largely because it included provisions encouraging the wellness programs.
The programs aim to control healthcare costs by reducing smoking, obesity, hypertension and other risk factors that can lead to expensive illnesses. A bipartisan provision in the 2010 healthcare reform law allows employers to reward workers who participate and penalize those who don't.
But recent lawsuits filed by the administration's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), challenging the programs at Honeywell International and two smaller companies, have thrown the future of that part of Obamacare into doubt.
The lawsuits infuriated some large employers so much that they are considering aligning themselves with Obama's opponents, according to people familiar with the executives' thinking.
"The fact that the EEOC sued is shocking to our members," said Maria Ghazal, vice-president and counsel at the Business Roundtable, a group of chief executives of more than 200 large U.S. corporations. "They don't understand why a plan in compliance with the ACA (Affordable Care Act) is the target of a lawsuit," she said. "This is a major issue to our members."
"There have been conversations at the most senior levels of the administration about this," she added.
Business Roundtable members are due to meet Obama in a closed-door session on Tuesday, where they may air their concerns.
It is not clear how many members of the group, whose companies sponsor health insurance for 40 million people, are considering any action. It is also not clear if the White House can stop the EEOC from challenging wellness programs.
A threat of a corporate backlash comes at a time when Obama faces criticism even from his Democrats' ranks that he had devoted too much political capital to healthcare reform.
Such action could take the form of radical changes in health benefits that employers offer. It could also mean supporting a potentially game-changing challenge to Obamacare at the Supreme Court next year and expected Republican efforts to eviscerate the law when they take control of Congress in 2015.
CARROTS AND STICKS
Obamacare allows financial incentives for workers taking part in workplace wellness programs of up to 50 percent of their monthly premiums, deductibles, and other costs. That translates into hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars in extra annual costs for those who do not participate.
Typically, participation means filling out detailed health questionnaires, undergoing medical screenings, and in some cases attending weight-loss or smoking-cessation programs.
One of the arguments presented in the lawsuit against three employers is that requiring medical testing violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.
That 1990 law, according to employment-law attorney Joseph Lazzarotti of Jackson Lewis P.C. in Morristown, N.J., largely prohibits requiring medical tests as part of employment.
"You can't make medical inquiries unless it's consistent with job-necessity, or part of a voluntary wellness program," he said.
The lawsuits are based on the view that it is no longer voluntary if employees face up to $4,000 in penalties for non-participation, loss of insurance or even their jobs.
Employers, however, see the lawsuits as reneging on the administration's commitment to an important part of the healthcare reform.
On Nov. 14, Roundtable president John Engler sent a letter to the Labor, Treasury and Health and Human Services cabinet secretaries who oversee Obamacare asking them to "thwart all future inappropriate actions against employers who are complying with" the law's wellness rules, and warning of "a chilling effect across the country."
Asked for a response to the letter, an administration official told Reuters that it supported workplace health promotion and prevention "while ensuring that individuals are protected from unfair underwriting practices that could otherwise reduce benefits based on health status."
UNDERMINING OBAMACARE
In practical terms, large corporations have several ways to undermine Obamacare if they decide to.
One is to support legal challenges to the subsidies given to low-income individuals who buy health insurance on the federal exchange established under the law. Neither the Business Roundtable nor any of its CEO members have done this so far. The Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments in the case in 2015.
Another option is to make top executives available for hearings on repealing or diluting Obamacare. "We never did this before," said the person familiar with the executives' thinking. "But they could turn up the noise. I don't think the White House would want the CEOs turning on them and supporting these efforts on the Hill."
The nuclear option would be to radically change employer-sponsored health insurance. Large corporations are highly unlikely to eliminate it, but they might give workers a fixed amount of money to buy coverage on a private insurance exchange. That would allow employers, almost all of which pay workers' medical claims out of their earnings, to cap their healthcare spending.
(Reporting by Sharon Begley; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Tomasz Janowski)

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Friday's mosque attack killed 100, wounded 135 in Nigeria's Kano: state governor

KANO, Nigeria Sat Nov 29, 2014 6:27pm EST

Security and emergency agency staff investigate the Kano Central Mosque bombing scene in Kano November 29, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Stringer
KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) - A total of 100 people were killed in Friday's coordinated attack on the central mosque of north Nigeria's biggest city of Kano and 135 people were wounded, the governor of Kano state said on Saturday.
Rabiu Musa Kwankaso was speaking to reporters after visiting one of the hospitals treating the victims. Officials had said on Friday that 81 people had been killed in the attack.
Gunmen set off three bombs and opened fire on worshippers at the main mosque in Kano in an attack that bore the hallmarks of Islamist Boko Haram militants, although the attack has not yet been claimed.
Boko Haram, a Sunni jihadist movement fighting to revive a medieval Islamic caliphate in northern Nigeria, regards the traditional Islamic religious authorities in Nigeria with disdain.
The targeted mosque is next to the palace of the emir of Kano, who is the second highest Islamic authority in Africa's most populous country and a vocal critic of Boko Haram.
In a bloody campaign of nearly six years the group has also targeted churches, schools, police stations, military bases and government buildings.
After Friday's attack President Goodluck Jonathan said the perpetrators would be tracked down.
(Reporting by Nnekule Ikemfuna; Writing by Julia Payne; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

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Soccer legend Pelé's health improving, still in intensive care

SAO PAULO Sat Nov 29, 2014 6:19pm EST

Brazilian soccer legend Pele laughs during the inauguration of a refurbished soccer field at the Mineira slum in Rio de Janeiro September 10, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Ricardo Moraes
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian soccer legend Pelé's health continued to improve on Saturday although he remained in an intensive care unit to allow doctors to monitor a urinary tract infection, the hospital said.
The 74-year-old three-time World Cup champion is receiving renal support treatment to help his kidneys filter waste products from the blood. He underwent surgery earlier this month to remove kidney stones.
According to a statement released by São Paulo's Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, Pelé - often called the greatest soccer player in history - is "lucid, talking, and his respiratory and blood readings are stable." A treatment with antibiotics remained unaltered, the statement said.
The renal treatment could be stopped early on Sunday, the hospital said in a separate statement.
Pelé, who was born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, has struggled with many health problems over the past decade. He has had emergency eye surgery for a detached retina and a hip replacement.
Known in Brazil as the "King of soccer," he played in four World Cups and scored over 1,000 goals during his career.
(Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal; Editing by Pravin Char and Gunna Dickson)

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Chelsea held at Sunderland, United and Arsenal win

By Ian Chadband
LONDON Sat Nov 29, 2014 3:11pm EST

1 of 4. Manchester United's Wayne Rooney celebrates his goal against Hull City with teammate Ashley Young (R) during their English Premier League soccer match at Old Trafford in Manchester, northern England, November 29, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Darren Staples
LONDON (Reuters) - Chelsea's seemingly irresistible march towards the title hit an unlikely roadblock at Sunderland on Saturday as they were held to a 0-0 draw having failed to score for the first time in their unbeaten Premier League season.
Jose Mourinho's side stretched their lead at the top to seven points but Sunderland's splendid resistance at the Stadium of Light at least scattered a few crumbs of hope for nearest pursuers Southampton and Manchester City, who meet on Sunday.
Chelsea's other floundering heavyweight rivals -- Manchester United, who beat Hull City 3-0, Arsenal, who won at West Bromwich Albion with a Danny Welbeck goal, and Liverpool, who beat Stoke City 1-0 despite dropping captain Steven Gerrard -- were also grateful for Sunderland's dogged effort.
Gus Poyet's Sunderland team, who have become rare pests for Mourinho as Chelsea's conquerors in last season's League Cup and the side which ended his 78-match unbeaten league record at Stamford Bridge, could even have pinched another win if Adam Johnson had not spurned two late chances.
Chelsea, nowhere near as sharp as in their midweek Champions League dismantling of Schalke 04, dominated proceedings but were held for the third time this term as they moved clear of second-placed Southampton and nine points ahead of champions City.
Mourinho, far from disappointed, felt it was a "a good point" against a Sunderland side which Poyet, a former Stamford Bridge favorite, reckoned had "defended for their lives".
"Only one team tried to win from the beginning, the other team didn't. They defended a lot and they defended well," said Mourinho. "Defending a lot and well is not a crime. They were successful in their approach."
GERRARD AXED
At Anfield, the inspirational Gerrard was axed on the 16th anniversary of his Liverpool debut but Brendan Rodgers' surprise decision was vindicated as they arrested their slump.
There have been plenty of questions over the form and effectiveness of Gerrard, 34, during 11th-placed Liverpool's recent travails but even dropping him to the bench did not seem to alter their sluggish form as they labored for 75 minutes.
The captain came on with a quarter of an hour left, amid deafening cheers, and Liverpool finally broke through with Glen Johnson's 85th-minute header.
Arsenal also gained welcome relief amid their worst start to a season for 32 years thanks to Welbeck's header.
The victory, reflecting Arsenal's domination, did not stop manager Arsene Wenger having to field questions about a fan banner which said, "Thanks for the memories but it's time to say goodbye".
"I don't want to comment on that. I try to do my best for this club that I love," responded Wenger.
The win moved Arsenal up to sixth on 20 points as Manchester United consolidated fourth with 22 after first-half goals by Chris Smalling and Wayne Rooney and a brilliant strike from Robin van Persie after the break sealed their win over Hull.
GOALLINE TECHNOLOGY
Smalling's 16th-minute opener was only awarded after goalline technology showed his shot had sneaked over the line.
"It was our best match when you see the full 90 minutes. We have dominated. I think now we are on the right way," added the Dutch manager, who felt Van Persie had scored a "beautiful" goal after recent criticism of his performances.
Once again an injury clouded United's joy with record signing Angel Di Maria limping off in the first half with a suspected hamstring problem.
At the other end of the table, Queens Park Rangers came through an entertaining clash at Loftus Road, beating Leicester City 3-2 to move above both their opponents and Burnley, Charlie Austin finally snatching the points with a 73rd-minute winner.
Former England forward Joe Cole, 33, flitted back into the limelight with the opener for Aston Villa in a 1-1 draw at Turf Moor, while Newcastle United's charge up the table was halted at West Ham United where Aaron Cresswell got the winner.
(Editing by Ken Ferris)

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McIlroy still upbeat despite mid-round collapse in Sydney

By Nick Mulvenney
SYDNEY Sat Nov 29, 2014 12:23pm EST

1 of 2. Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy tees off from the 12th hole during the first round of the Australian Open golf tournament in Sydney, November 27, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Jason Reed
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Rory McIlroy suffered a spectacular two-hole meltdown in the third round of the Australian Open on Saturday but he was not quite ready to give up on his title defence after windy conditions kept his rivals in check.
The world number one plummeted down the leaderboard when he dropped a combined five shots at the ninth and 10th holes but even a five-over-par 76 left him just six shots off the pace going into Sunday's final round.
"I need a fast start tomorrow to have a chance," he told reporters. "It depends too on what the guys ahead of me do. I need some help. But the greens have been firmer every day. So a low score is higher than it was.
"I still feel like I can shoot a good one. I just don't know if that will be enough. I'll be trying my best. It's the last round of the season so it would be nice to make it a good one."
McIlroy had stayed among the leaders for his first eight holes, sinking a couple of clutch par putts and rebounding from a bogey at the fourth with a birdie at the next which could have been an eagle had he not lipped out with the putt.
His driving had been erratic, though, and he paid the full price for it at the ninth.
He launched his tee shot into a reedy thicket and his first attempt to extricate the ball left it wedged under some matting, forcing him to take a drop with a two-putt on the green leading to a triple bogey.
At the 10th, he found the woods from the tee, again failed to get back on the fairway with his first effort and coming up short with a 10 foot putt for bogey.
"It was a tough day obviously," he said. "The wind was up. I was doing okay, steady enough, until I got to the ninth. I hit a wayward tee shot into what I thought was a decent enough lie that I could advance the ball.
"But I didn't realise what I was standing on is not like dirt or earth. It was more like carpet. So the ball went underneath the carpet. Had it been a normal surface it would have been alright, but down there it was impossible."
(Editing by John O'Brien)

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