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| December 19, 2013 |
 Russia rebuilding lost radar coverage Moscow (Voice of Russia) Dec 19, 2013 - The commissioning of a Konteyner radar station in the Russian region of Mordovia east-southeast of Moscow has marked the completion of the latest part of Russia's programme to patch up its radar surveillance coverage, which developed huge gaps after many of the Soviet radar stations were taken over by new states and many others fell into post-Soviet disrepair. Adding to this misery is the ... more |  |
 Asia's year in space triggers applause but also worry Paris (AFP) Dec 17, 2013 - The past 12 months will be remembered as the year when Asia's economic powerhouses barged their way into the elite club of spacefarers. South Korea placed its first satellite in orbit, Japan launched a new three-stage rocket and India set its eyes on Mars, dispatching its first scout to the Red Planet. Heading the pack in 2013, though, was China. It carried out another manned trip as a p ... more |  |
 China warship 'followed protocol' in stand-off: officials Beijing (AFP) Dec 18, 2013 - A Chinese warship "followed protocol" during an "encounter" with a US naval vessel, the defence ministry said Wednesday in Beijing's first official confirmation of what the US military described as a near-collision. The USS Cowpens, a guided missile cruiser, was forced to manoeuvre to avoid a collision with the Chinese ship that had crossed directly in front of it and halted, according to na ... more |  |
 Syria barrel bomb raids on Aleppo kill 135: monitor Beirut (AFP) Dec 18, 2013 - Regime warplanes pounded Syria's second city Aleppo for a fourth straight day Wednesday in air raids that have killed at least 135 people, many of them children, a monitor said. The attacks focused on rebel-held areas of eastern and northern Aleppo, once the country's commercial hub, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Sunday's first day of the raids produced the highest daily ... more |  |
 Brazil picks Sweden's Gripen fighter jet Brasïlia (AFP) Dec 18, 2013 - Swedish aerospace maker Saab won a $5 billion contract to equip the Brazilian air force with 36 new fighter jets, Defense Minister Celso Amorim announced Wednesday. Saab's Gripen, a state-of-the-art multi-role fighter jet, beat its two rivals - the Rafale, made by France's Dassault company, and US aviation giant Boeing's F/A-18 fighter - for the lucrative contract. "After analyzing all ... more |  |
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 Suicide bomber attacks Shiites as Iraq unrest kills 9 Baquba, Iraq (AFP) Dec 18, 2013 - A suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt among Shiite pilgrims walking northeast of the Iraqi capital, one of several attacks that killed a total of nine people Wednesday, officials said. The bomber struck in the Khales area, killing five people and wounding 10, a police colonel and a doctor said. The colonel said one of the dead was a policeman tasked with guarding the pilgrims, wh ... more |  |
Philippines, leftist rebels to observe Christmas truce Manila (AFP) Dec 18, 2013 - The Philippine military and one of Asia's last communist guerrilla groups said Wednesday they are to call an informal truce over Christmas, bringing some peace to a nation reeling from disasters. The Communist Party of the Philippines said its New People's Army guerrillas would observe a 48-hour unilateral ceasefire in the mainly Catholic Asian nation from December 24, and another 48-hour tr ... more |  |
 Afghan Taliban torch US vehicles at Pakistan border Jalalabad, Afghanistan (AFP) Dec 18, 2013 - Taliban fighters wearing army uniforms attacked US military vehicles in a parking lot in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing at least one policeman and torching several trucks, an official said. The attackers detonated a car bomb outside the entrance to the facility at Torkham gate, a key crossing into Pakistan for NATO supplies leaving Afghanistan as the US-led coalition withdraws. ... more |  |
Pakistan launches production of new fighter jet Kamra, Pakistan (AFP) Dec 18, 2013 - Pakistan on Wednesday launched production of a new version of a combat aircraft featuring upgraded avionics and weapons system. The plane, to be called Block-II JF-17, will be manufactured at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex west of Islamabad, which has so far produced 50 older-model Block-I JF-17s for the air force. The complex on Wednesday formally handed over the 50th indigenously ... more |  |
 Agent pleads guilty in US Navy bribery scandal Los Angeles (AFP) Dec 18, 2013 - A US navy investigator faces up to 20 years in prison after admitting sharing secrets with the target of a probe in exchange for prostitutes, cash and luxury travel. John Bertrand Beliveau Jr., 44, a special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, pleaded guilty Tuesday to participating in a massive international fraud and bribery scheme. Specifically he admitted regularly s ... more |  |
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 S.Korea minister rules out imminent N. Korean nuclear test Seoul (AFP) Dec 18, 2013 - North Korea does not appear close to conducting a nuclear or missile test despite continued preparations, a South Korean minister said Wednesday after a purge in Pyongyang sparked fears of aggression. "Preparations have been made continuously... but I don't think a nuclear test or long-range missile launch is imminent," Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-Jae told a parliamentary committee. T ... more |  |
Taiwan grounds new US-made choppers over malfunction fears Taipei (AFP) Dec 18, 2013 - Taiwan Wednesday grounded its new fleet of US-made Apache attack helicopters for checks after a notice from Washington warning the model could malfunction. "There was some malfunctioning of the planes in the US army last week so we are doing some special checks now. (The helicopters) can resume flying once the checks are completed," Defence Minister Yen Ming told a parliamentary meeting. ... more |  |
Settlement construction 'hampers' peace: Jerusalem patriarch Jerusalem (AFP) Dec 18, 2013 - Mideast peace efforts are being "hampered" by Israeli settlement construction, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem said Wednesday in his traditional Christmas message. "The Israeli-Palestinian talks resumed in late July, after three years of interruption, but the efforts are hampered by the continuous building of Israeli settlements," said Fuad Twal, the top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy La ... more |  |
Iraq police hero sacrifices himself to save pilgrims Baquba, Iraq (AFP) Dec 18, 2013 - An Iraqi policeman gave his own life on Wednesday in an attempt to protect pilgrims, embracing a suicide bomber just moments before an attack to shield others from the blast. The bomber struck in Khales, northeast of Baghdad, killing five people and wounding 10, a police colonel and a doctor said. The toll would almost certainly have been higher were it not for the selfless actions of th ... more |  |
 Lockheed Martin to build 2 more U.S. Air Force satellites Denver (UPI) Dec 18, 2013 - The U.S. Air Force has modified contracts to see through completion of two more satellites being built by Lockheed Martin, the aviation and aerospace manufacturer said. The $200.7 million cost-plus-incentive-fee modification builds on and modifies an existing contract for the two Global Positioning System III space vehicles, 05 and 06, part of a multibillion-dollar U.S. Air Force progra ... more |  |
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Iran nuclear talks to resume in Geneva Thursday Vienna (AFP) Dec 18, 2013 - Talks between Iran and world powers on implementing last month's nuclear deal will resume Thursday in Geneva, a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, and Tehran, said Wednesday. "The technical talks will be resumed tomorrow and continue until Friday" in Geneva, Michael Mann told AFP via email. The experts held four days of talks in Vienna last week but the Iranians walk ... more |  |
China's graft crackdown hits watches, luxury market Shanghai (AFP) Dec 18, 2013 - Luxury watch sales fell in the key Chinese market this year in the face of a crackdown on corruption and extravagance, a global consultancy said. Watches account for over one fifth of China's domestic luxury market and dropped by 11 percent to 27 billion yuan ($4.5 billion) in 2013, Bain & Company said in a report. China's luxury market has boomed in recent years on the back of its econo ... more |  |
Netanyahu warns Chinese foreign minister against nuclear Iran Jerusalem (AFP) Dec 18, 2013 - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Wednesday that Iran must not have the "capability" to develop nuclear arms, during a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. "For the peace of the world, for the peace of the coming years and decades, Iran must be denied the capability - I stress the word - the capability to develop nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said in televised r ... more |  |
Top Republican: Senate leader coddling Iran for Obama Washington (AFP) Dec 18, 2013 - The Senate's Democratic leadership is shielding US President Barack Obama from potentially embarrassing fallout by refusing to vote on new sanctions against Iran, the chamber's top Republican warned Wednesday. Lawmakers from both parties are keen to expand economic penalties on Iran, which is in the midst of negotiations with world powers over its nuclear program. One bipartisan proposal ... more |  |
Russian missile deployment raises alarm Moscow (AFP) Dec 17, 2013 - Washington has joined Russia's neighbours in voicing alarm after Moscow revealed it had moved nuclear-capable Iskander missiles closer to EU borders in response to the US-led deployment of a disputed air defence shield. The advanced version of the Russian missile has a range of 500 kilometres (310 miles) and could potentially be used to take out ground-based radar and interceptors of the new ... more |  |
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