Welcome refugees and reject racism Merkel says

BERLIN: Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Germans to turn their backs on a growing grass-roots movement of anti-Muslim protesters, calling them racists full of hatred, and said Europe's biggest economy must welcome people fleeing conflict and war.
In an unusually strongly worded New Year address that also condemned Russia for its actions in Ukraine, Merkel said it was essential for Germany to help the children of persecuted people to grow up without fear.
Many Germans are worried about a flood of asylum seekers, many from Syria, pouring into the country. A new movement, Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA), is holding weekly rallies in the eastern city of Dresden.
Referring to protests that took place before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Merkel said, “Today many people are again shouting on Mondays: 'We are the people'. But in fact they mean: You do not belong - because of the colour of your skin or your religion.
“So I say to everyone who goes to such demonstrations: Do not follow those who are appealing to you! Because too often there is prejudice, coldness, even hatred, in their hearts.”
Partly in response to its Nazi past, German asylum rules are among the most liberal in the world. Asylum granted elsewhere had helped many opponents of the Nazi regime to survive.
The number of asylum-seekers arriving in Germany has surged to about 200,000 this year, four times the numbers in 2012. Net immigration has hit a two-decade high.
Consequently, immigration has moved up on the political agenda. Some members of Merkel's conservative bloc worry that they risk losing support if they do not respond to voter fears.
Growing support for PEGIDA's marches - a week ago more than 17,000 attended - and the popularity of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party since it shifted its focus from euro-scepticism to immigration is causing shockwaves in Berlin.
Merkel, who grew up in East Germany, also reiterated that Russia had questioned the foundation of Europe's peaceful order - self-determination - with its actions in Ukraine. She said Europe would not allow Russia to abuse human rights.

Palastinian resolution fails at UN security council

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council failed Tuesday to adopt a resolution on Palestinian statehood that was strongly opposed by the United States.
China, France and Russia were among the eight countries that voted in favor of the text, but the resolution fell short of winning the nine “yes” votes necessary for adoption in the 15-member council.
Australia and the United States voted against, and five other countries abstained, including Britain.
The resolution drafted by the Palestinians and backed by Arab countries would have paved the way to a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
It set a 12-month deadline for Israel to reach a final peace deal with the Palestinians and called for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories by the end of 2017.
Security Council member Jordan had requested the vote despite opposition from the United States, which argued that the resolution did not address Israel's security concerns and set arbitrary deadlines.
“This resolution sets the stage for more division, not for compromise,” US Ambassador Samantha Power told the council. “This text addresses the concerns of just one side.”
Power defended the US position in favor of direct talks, saying “peace will come from hard choices and compromises that must be made at the negotiating table”. US Secretary of State John Kerry had lobbied in the days leading up to the vote, calling 13 foreign ministers to explain the American opposition.
Washington was not, however, compelled to resort to its veto power to block the measure — a move that could have undermined US standing in the Arab world.
A US veto risked angering key Arab allies, including partners in the US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.
Argentina, Chad, Chile, Jordan and Luxembourg joined China, France and Russia in supporting the resolution.
Lithuania, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Korea abstained, along with Britain.
Diplomatic sources said Nigeria had been expected to support the resolution and changed its stance at the last minute.

France votes ‘yes’

France's envoy said he backed the resolution because of an “urgent need to act” and vowed to continue pressing for a UN role in reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
“Our efforts must not stop here. It is our responsibility to try again, before it's too late,” said Francois Delattre.
International alarm is growing over the ongoing violence and the failure to restart negotiations that last broke down in April, when Kerry led a push for peace.
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the vote underlined the “urgency” for Israel and the Palestinians to resume peace negotiations.
She vowed a renewed EU effort to achieve a two-state solution “now more than ever”. On Tuesday, a Palestinian teenager was seriously wounded by Israeli gunfire in the West Bank, according to family members. The army said he had thrown a suspected explosive device at troops.
The vote capped a three-month campaign by the Palestinians at the United Nations to win support for a resolution that sets a timeframe for ending the Israeli occupation.
Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour accused the council of failing to shoulder its responsibilities and vowed to seek other venues to gain recognition.
“The Palestinian people and the world can no longer wait. That message, despite the regrettable outcome today, is especially clear,” he told the council.
Mansour said the Palestinian leadership will meet Wednesday to decide on the next steps.
The Palestinians have said they are prepared to join the International Criminal Court to launch legal action against Israel and use other international fora to press their case if the resolution fails.
Israel — represented by the mission's number three Israel Nitzan — delivered a terse, four-sentence address to the council.
“I have news for the Palestinians — you cannot agitate and provoke your way to a state,” he said. “I urge the council to stop indulging the Palestinians and put an end to their march of folly.”

Sydney spetacular leads global New Year celebration

SYDNEY: A dazzling display of fireworks lit up Sydney Harbour on Thursday as Australia's biggest city welcomed the New Year in spectacular style, defying terrorist fears days after a deadly siege.
From Hong Kong to London and New York to Rio, millions around the world will celebrate when the clock ticks past midnight, ringing in 2015 with massive fireworks displays, concerts and light shows.
In Sydney, rocked by deadly drama just before Christmas when an Iranian-born gunman with a history of violence and extremism took 17 hostages in the city's financial hub, tonnes of fireworks exploded over the harbour watched by a crowd estimated at more than one million.
“We are celebrating that we are a multicultural, harmonious community but we will be thinking about what happened,” Lord Mayor Clover Moore said in reference to the incident in which two hostages and the gunman died.
In the aftermath of the siege, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said security agencies had picked up a heightened level of “terrorist chatter” and warned that “the terror threat remains high and... at this level, an attack is likely”.
But the fireworks display went ahead without incident. Brilliant bursts of colour lit up the harbour in spectacular fashion in the midnight showpiece, with fireworks cascading off the Harbour Bridge, shooting off the Opera House and streaming across the sky in one of the world's first major celebrations to ring in 2015.

Worldwide revelry

Across Asia, millions will be partying with Hong Kong's dazzling skyline along Victoria Harbour set to light up during an eight-minute pyrotechnic display.
In China, Beijing's bid to stage the 2022 Winter Olympics was to be the theme of celebrations, with concert pianist Lang Lang to be the star performer at an extravaganza at Olympic Park.
The Chinese capital has held New Year countdowns at the historic Temple of Heaven since 2011, but has moved the event to the site of the 2008 summer games to raise the profile of its winter Olympics bid.
In Taiwan the landmark skyscraper Taipei 101 will be at the centre of celebrations, with performances by pop singers and a firework display at midnight expected to attract hundreds of thousands.
And in Japan, the Meiji Jingu shrine in Tokyo brought out stocks of lucky charms and set up large offertory boxes as it prepared to welcome a huge wave of worshippers overnight.
The huge shrine expects three million visitors in the first three days of the new year.
In Malaysia, a sombre mood prevails across the country after the crash of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 carrying 162 people in Indonesia and flooding in the nation's northeast which has displaced almost 250,000 people.
Year-end countdown celebrations have been cancelled, with many companies instead launching fundraising campaigns for flood victims.
In Afghanistan, the last French troops in the country held a ceremony in Kabul to mark the end of their deployment after NATO combat operations closed down as a new “train and support” mission takes over.
The end of another era will be remembered in Berlin with “Baywatch” star David Hasselhoff joining a huge open air concert in front of the Brandenburg Gate, where he famously sang for freedom after the Berlin Wall fell 25 years ago.
In Paris, the Champs-Elysees will be reserved for pedestrians to let them watch a visual spectacle projected onto the Arc de Triomphe 15 minutes before the start of the new year.
The ticking of the clock past midnight will be significant for Lithuania as it adopts the euro. Another small Baltic state, Latvia, takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union, putting it on the front line of negotiations with neighbouring Russia over the crisis in Ukraine.
In Spain, millions of revellers will descend on Madrid's Puerta del Sol to eat the traditional 12 grapes for each stroke of midnight while in Barcelona a massive fireworks display will be held.
London stages New Year's Eve fireworks along the Thames and Edinburgh will be holding its traditional Hogmanay street party along the Royal Mile with tens of thousands expected.
Marking 2015 on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, more than two million people are expected to attend a huge fireworks show that will open celebrations marking 450 years since the founding of the city.
And in New York about one million revellers are expected to descend on Times Square to watch the New Year's Eve Ball Drop.

US working with India to prevent like Mumbai attacks

WASHINGTON: The United States has been working with India, Britain and other partners to prevent a Mumbai-like terrorist attack, says the US State Department.
On Monday, The New York Times reported that the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai, which killed 166 people, could have been prevented if there was better coordination among Indian, British and American intelligence agencies.
“Over the last six years, the intelligence community here in the United States has worked with all of our partners to make sure we’re best positioned to stop attacks like Mumbai before they ever happen again,” US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf told reporters in Washington.
The official, however, noted that it’s always challenging to put together all the puzzle pieces from various agencies and depict a comprehensive picture.
She pointed out that after the Mumbai attack US, British and Indian intelligence agencies and their partners had taken steps to improve their ability to prevent these kinds of attacks.

PK the most important movie of the year

If I were to judge PK based purely on its merits as a film, I would give it a score of 3.5/5. It’s good, but not great. The strong premise and intriguing script by Rajkumar Hirani and Abhijat Joshi provide a foundation for a promising examination of contemporary values and the manner in which opportunists and 'godmen' twist them.
But Hirani's penchant for emotional manipulation removes nuance in favour of simplistic philosophy. In order to keep the focus on the message, he ignores many other aspects of the movie.

IS downs warplans over Syria

BEIRUT: The Islamic State group on Wednesday shot down a warplane from the US-led coalition over northern Syria, a monitoring group said, with the jihadists claiming to have captured a Jordanian pilot.
“We have confirmed reports that IS members took a (non-Syrian) Arab pilot prisoner after shooting his plane down with an anti-aircraft missile near Raqa city,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The IS branch in Raqa published photographs on jihadist websites purporting to show its fighters holding the captured pilot, with a caption identifying him as Jordanian and giving his name.
Several photographs were released, including one showing the pilot, wearing only a white shirt, being carried from a body of water by four men.
Another showed him on land, surrounded by about a dozen armed men.
The jihadists claimed to have shot down the warplane with a heat-seeking missile.
The Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a wide network of sources inside Syria, had no further immediate information.
There was no immediate reaction from authorities in Jordan.
Jordan is among a number of countries that have joined the US-led alliance carrying out air strikes against IS after the jihadists seized control of large parts of Syria and Iraq.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Bahrain are taking part in the air strikes in Syria alongside the United States.
Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France and The Netherlands have joined the raids in Iraq.
The Sunni extremist IS has committed widespread atrocities in areas under its control, including mass executions of captured soldiers and public beheadings of hostages including Western journalists and aid workers.
Coalition warplanes have carried out regular strikes around Raqa, which IS has used as the headquarters for its self-proclaimed “caliphate”.

Suicide bomber kills 21 in attack on anti-IS fighters in Iraq:

A suicide bomber blew up himself on Wednesday among a group of pro-government, anti-Islamic State group Sunni militias near Baghdad, killing at least 22 people, a latest bold attack by militants seeking to undermine government efforts to fight extremists.
The attacker managed to mingle with the militiamen who gathered at a military base in the town of Madain to receive their monthly payment, two police officers said.
At least 15 of the dead were Sunni militiamen and the rest were soldiers, while 55 others were wounded, they said. The town is located about 20 kilometers (14 miles) south of Baghdad.
The group, known as Sahwa or the Awakening Councils, is made up of Sunni militiamen who joined US troops in the fight against Al Qaeda during the height of Iraq's insurgency in 2007 and 2008. They are viewed as traitors by the Sunni militants.
Three medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to release information to the media.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, but it bore the hallmark of the Islamic State group, which captured large swaths of western and northern Iraq in a summer blitz.
The militant group's onslaught has be become Iraq's worst crisis since the 2011 withdrawal of US troops.

Curfew in Indian state after tribal miliants kill 56

GUWAHATI: India imposed a curfew in parts of the northeastern state of Assam on Wednesday after suspected tribal guerrillas killed 56 people in a series of attacks in retaliation for an offensive against them.
Assam has a history of sectarian bloodshed and groups fighting for greater autonomy or secession from India.
Tuesday's attacks in four places by militants of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland within the space of an hour were the deadliest in months.
Villagers told police the rebels came on foot, armed with assault rifles and wearing military uniforms.
“The militants first came and asked for water. Suddenly they opened fire with their AK-47 rifles,” a witness, who fled into jungle, later told reporters.
The guerrillas say they are fighting for a separate homeland for indigenous Bodo people. They complain that the tea-growing state has been flooded with outsiders.
Indian security forces launched a campaign last month against the rebels in their remote hideouts, prompting a threat from them to target settlers.
“They didn't even spare women and children,” said a police officer, adding there were at least 10 women among the dead in Tuesday's violence. At least 13 children were killed.
Lalit Gogoi, deputy commissioner of the worst-affected Sonitpur district, said the army had been put on standby and a dusk to dawn curfew imposed.
The single hospital in Sonitpur was crowded with scores of people with gunshot wounds.
Assam is one of seven states in India's northeast, a region bounded by China, Myanmar, Bhutan and Bangladesh. For long, residents have accused the federal government of plundering its natural resources and ignoring development.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to accelerate the development of roads and railways in the area.