US Oil Rig Grounded Off Alaska
A huge Shell Oil drilling rig has run aground in a storm off the rugged coast of the remote U.S. state of Alaska.
The U.S. Coast Guard said the Kulluk broke free from the ship handling it in rough seas in the Gulf of Alaska on New Year's Eve and then was cut loose from a tug boat. In less than an hour, it ran aground on the rocky shoreline of the uninhabited Sitkalidak Island as winds reached more than 100 kilometers per hour.
Crew members were rescued before the grounding. Officials said the rig is carrying 567,000 liters of diesel fuel and 45,000 liters of lube oil and hydraulic fluid. There were no immediate signs the oil was leaking.
The grounding is the latest setback in Shell's efforts to explore for oil in Alaska's Arctic waters, which have been opposed by American Indian and environmental groups and hindered by damage to drilling equipment.
Syria Begins New Year With More Violence
Syrian government troops and rebel forces fought Tuesday on the outskirts of Damascus and near the city of Aleppo.
Government aircraft pounded eastern suburbs of the capital and rebel-held areas of Aleppo, the country's commercial hub.
Authorities announced the closure of Aleppo airport because of rebel attacks. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported heavy fighting around the base of Syrian army Brigade 80, part of the airport protection force.
Anti-government activists also reported heavy fighting in the Damascus suburb of Daraya, with bombing by Syrian warplanes. Syria's government-run media said troops killed “tens of terrorists” in Daraya and nearby areas.
Syrian rebels are trying to oust President Bashar al-Assad. Activists say 45,000 people have been killed in the conflict that began with peaceful anti-government protests in March 2011.
On Monday, Syria's Prime Minister Wael al-Halaqi said the government was open to talks aimed at solving the conflict. He was responding to U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who said Sunday he has a plan that is acceptable to world powers.
Brahimi said the plan calls for all sides in Syria to end hostilities, enter into a national dialogue, and form a transitional government leading to new elections. But the plan says nothing about the fate of President Assad, an omission that appears to have stalled its progress.
Uefa to appeal against Serbia and England U21 bans
European football governing body Uefa has decided to appeal against sanctions imposed by its own disciplinary body on Serbia and England's Under-21 players.
England's Steven Caulker and Thomas Ince and four players and two coaches from Serbia were banned, after a brawl at the game in Krusevac in October.
Uefa also ordered Serbia to play their next competitive under-21 match behind closed doors and fined them £65,000.
The sanctions have been widely viewed as being too lenient.
The game ended with scuffles over alleged racist chants from Serbian fans towards England players.
A statement on Uefa's website read: "Uefa, via the Uefa disciplinary inspector appointed to the case, has decided to appeal all the sanctions imposed by the Control and Disciplinary Body relating to incidents which took place at the 2013 Uefa European Under-21 Championship play-off second-leg match between Serbia and England on 16 October 2012".
The UEFA disciplinary inspector now has until 8 January to lodge an appeal, the same deadline that applies to any appeals the FA and the Serbian Football Federation may make.
--BBC
Wayne Rooney could be out for three weeks for Man Utd
Wayne Rooney could be out for three weeks after suffering a knee injury.
The Manchester United striker, 27, may miss four games, including an FA Cup tie against West Ham.
"Wayne tried a volley in training and damaged a knee ligament - he'll be out for two to three weeks," United manager Sir Alex Ferguson told BBC Sport.
Rooney, who has scored seven goals in the league this season, was replaced by Javier Hernandez in United's 4-3 win over Newcastle.
He produced a disappointing performance against Swansea at the weekend and Ferguson had expected him to bounce back against the Magpies.
"After his performance on Sunday I think he would have been brilliant today. You don't have two performances like he did on Sunday," added the Scot, who turns 71 on New Year's Eve. "Unfortunately we couldn't risk him."
If Rooney is out for the full period then he will miss the matches against West Brom on Saturday, Wigan on New Year's Day, the FA Cup tie against West Ham on 5 January and the clash against fierce rivals Liverpool on 13 January.
He was out for a month earlier this season after suffering a gash to his right leg.
Meanwhile, forward Danny Welbeck and winger Ashley Young also missed the Boxing Day match at Old Trafford.
"Welbeck was taken ill in the team hotel last night," Ferguson said. "Ashley Young also got injured yesterday and Phil Jones got injured against Swansea.
"Young should be OK for Saturday [against West Brom]."
Ferguson explained why, having made his first start since September at the Liberty Stadium, captain Nemanja Vidic was on the bench against Newcastle.
"We couldn't risk Vida after playing his first game," he said.
"He had a bit of soreness in his knee, which is only to be expected after being out for so long."
--BBC
Chavaz fights Cancer in Cuba
Cubans who were tuned in to the nightly soap opera on a recent Saturday received a sudden burst of bad news, from the other side of the Caribbean.
State TV cut to the presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, where President Hugo Chavez revealed that his cancer had returned. Facing his fourth related surgery in 18 months, he grimly named Vice President Nicolas Maduro as his possible successor.
The news shocked not only Venezuelans but millions of Cubans who have come to depend on Chavez's largesse for everything from subsidised oil to cheap loans. Venezuela supplies about half of Cuba's energy needs, meaning the island's economy would be in for a huge shock and likely recession if a post-Chavez president forced the island to pay full price for oil. --AP
Despite the drama, the news likely wasn't a surprise to Cuba's Communist government, and not only because Chavez has been receiving medical care on the island.
Havana learned important lessons about overdependence when the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union threw the country into a deep crisis. Trying to avoid the consequences of a similar cut, the Cuban government has been diversifying its portfolio of economic partners in recent years, looking to Asia, Europe and other Latin American nations, and is only about half as dependent on Caracas as it was on the former Soviet Union.
Cuba is also working to stimulate its economy back home by allowing more private-sector activity, giving a leg up to independent and cooperative farming, and decentralising its sugar industry. A stronger Cuban economy would in theory have more hard currency to pay for energy and other imports.
Also getting off the ground is an experiment with independent nonfarm collectives that should be more efficient than state-run companies. And next year, another pilot programme is planned for decentralised state enterprises that will enjoy near-autonomy and be allowed to control most of their income.
"This could have good results," said a Cuban economist who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorised to talk to the foreign media. Cuba "is also thinking of boosting foreign investment in areas of the national economy, including in restricted areas like the sugar industry".
One of the country's top goals has been to make the island's struggling economy less dependent on a single benefactor.
Under the leadership of Chavez, who regularly calls former Cuban President Fidel Castro his ideological father and has followed parts of the Communist leader's governance playbook, Venezuela has sent billions of dollars a year to Cuba through trade and petro-aid.
Bilateral trade stood at a little over $8 billion last year, much of it in Cuban imports of oil and derivatives. In return, Havana primarily provides Venezuela with technical support from Cuban teachers, scientists and other professionals, plus brigades of health care workers. Analysts say those services are overvalued by outside standards, apparently costing as much as $200,000 per year per doctor. Experts peg the total Venezuelan subsidy to Cuba at around $2 billion to $4 billion a year.
While business with Venezuela makes up 40 per cent of all Cuban trade, it's still a far cry from the days when the Communist Eastern Bloc accounted for an estimated 80 per cent.
Christmas limers shot dead
Red alert issued for volcano on Chile-Argentina border
Chilean authorities on Sunday issued a red alert -- the most severe in their warning system -- that the Copahue Volcano, high in the Andes mountains on the border with Argentina, might be poised for a significant eruption.
In a statement, Chile's Geological and Mining Service stressed that no mandatory evacuations have been ordered around the remote volcano, which lies about 280 kilometers southeast (175 miles) of Concepcion, though the closest roads to it are in Argentina.
Even though the seismic activity suggests a minor eruption, the agency decided to raise the alert level because it could not rule out a major eruption. The service warned specifically about potentially dangerous mudslides within a 15-kilometer (9.3-mile) radius of the crater.
Alto Biobio, a community about 60 kilometers (37 miles) east of Copahue, is under the heightened alert. The governor and emergency officials in Biobio province met Sunday afternoon to discuss possible scenarios, including establishing a plan in case a mass evacuation is deemed necessary.
Seismic stations first detected increased activity Saturday, according to the Volcano Observatory of the Southern Andes, which is part of Chile's Geological and Mining Service.
In addition, more gas than normal has been detected coming from the volcano. The black, ash-filled gas has soared as 1.5 kilometers (almost 1 mile) above Copahue and extended 13 kilometers (8 miles) out from it, toward the southeast.
Known in South America as Volcan Copahue, this volcano formed about 500,000 years ago and contains a string of nine craters in this stretch of the Andes, according to the Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Program. Its summit is just less than 3000 meters, or 9,830 feet, above sea level.
Mild to moderate eruptions have been recorded here since the 18th century, and some in the 20th century spewed volcanic rocks and chilled liquid sulfur fragments from its 300-meter wide crater lake, the Global Volcanism Program reports.
After at least three eruptions during the 1990s, Copahue's last significant eruption occurred from July to October 2000. That incident caused damage, mudslides and spurred evacuations.
--CNN
Syrian Delegation in Russia For Talking on Ending Unrest
A Syrian delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Maqdad has begun talks in Moscow on resolving Syria's 21-month-old uprising.
The group arrived on Thursday for meetings with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The delegation is expected to discuss proposals made by peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.
Brahimi met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday and is due in Moscow on Saturday for talks with Russian leaders.
Syria's ally, Russia, has reportedly been trying to broker a peaceful transition of power in the country.
Meanwhile, Mr. Assad's government may have suffered another set-back. On Wednesday, a top military official who headed the feared military police told a pan-Arab TV station that he had “defected” and joined the Syrian opposition.
A video posted on a social media website shows General Abdul-Aziz Jassem al-Shallal saying that he left the government because the Syrian military police have strayed from their primary mission.
The U.S. State Department cautiously welcomed reports of al-Shallal's departure saying if the reports are true, it would be “yet another sign” that the Syrian regime is “crumbling from within.”
In another development, there are conflicting accounts about unrest in a northern province near the Turkish border. The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says government shelling in a village near the town of Raqqa left at least 20 people dead, including eight children.
The state-run SANA news agency says an “armed terrorist group” launched an attack in the village that resulted in the deaths of civilians, including women and children. Syria has blamed much of the anti-government related unrest in “armed groups” and “terrorists.”
Separately, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory said at least 130 people were killed in violence across Syria, on Wednesday, including 51 civilians.
Another opposition group, the Syrian Revolution General Commission, said heavy shelling continued several regions of the country, including southern neighborhoods of Damascus.
###
“In the name of God E., I am General Abdul-Aziz Jassem al-Shallal, head of the military police. I have defected because of the deviation of the army from its primary duty of protecting the country and its transformation into gangs of killing and destruction, the destruction of cities and villages and committing massacres against our unarmed people who went out to demand liberty. Long live Syria free and strong.”
Tropical Storm Wukong Kills Four in Philippines
Tropical storm Wukong has left at least four people dead in the Philippines, which is still recovering from a typhoon earlier this month that killed over a thousand people.
Officials say three people were also missing as the storm cut through the central Philippines on Thursday, overflowing rivers, flooding towns, and making many roads impassable.
The national disaster agency said three people died when a tree fell on their house in Eastern Samar province. Another was killed in a landslide in Iloilo province.
More than 6,000 people fled to evacuation centers to escape the storm, which is expected to weaken as it moves over the western resort island of Palawan on Thursday.
Wukong was not as powerful as Typhoon Bopha, which hit the southern Philippines on December 4, killing more than 1,000 people and leaving hundreds more missing.
The country is vulnerable to severe flooding caused by heavy rains and tsunamis. It is hit by about 20 major storms or typhoons each year.
Government pays US$3 billion to generators
The Dominican Electricity Companies Corporation (CDEEE) has paid in full the US$3 billion that the government had committed to paying the electricity generators, of the US$7 billion it owes.
The CDEEE says that after the generating companies had completed the paperwork, they immediately started to disburse the funds, and that now “this is already history.”
The remaining debt payment is included in the 2013 budget, which will be used to pay the rest of the US$7 billion owed.
Several weeks ago the Dominican Electricity Industry Association (ADIE) expressed its concern at the long delays in paying the generating companies, which at the time had accumulated four months of expired current debts.
ADIE believes that the government should make stronger efforts to repay the debt as this is the only guarantee for ensuring the supply and sustainability of the electricity system in the short term.
According to ADIE, most of the money owed to the generators is for buying fuel to keep their generators running, as well as for paying creditors and renewing expired credit lines. The generating companies said they were having problems with their operations and with the fuel inventory due to the delays in payment.
They said that replacing fuel inventories was not an immediate action, as once the purchase order for the fuel has been placed the ships take several weeks to arrive.