The world in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Together we can find a better balance, end mass surveillance, and remind the government that if it really wants to know how we feel, asking is always cheaper than spying.”

Edward Snowden, the leaker and former National Security Agency contractor, in a Christmas message broadcast on London’s Channel 4 Article, 1A

All but 1 of 30 activists off Russian hook

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia - Russian investigators have dropped charges against all but one member of the 30-member crew of a Greenpeace ship who were accused of hooliganism after a protest outside a Russian oil rig in the Arctic, the group said Wednesday.

Cristian d’Alessandro of Italy failed to get his criminal case dropped because of the lack of an interpreter and will have to visit the St. Petersburg branch of Russia’s Investigative Committee again today, said Violetta Ryabko, a Greenpeace spokesman.

Ryabko said foreign members of the crew had already applied to the Russian authorities for exit visas to leave Russia and expect to get them in the next few days.

The 30 crew members aboard a Greenpeace ship were detained in September and held in custody for two months before they were released on bond in November.

Towed boat keels, killing 17 Haitians

At least 17 migrants from Haiti died Wednesday when their overloaded sailboat capsized as it was being towed to shore in the Turks and Caicos Islands, officials in the British territory said.

A marine unit of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force had intercepted the packed sloop about two hours earlier and was escorting it to shore when it abruptly overturned, prompting a frantic search-and-rescue operation in the pre-dawn darkness.

Karlo Pelissier, the Haitian consul to the Turks and Caicos, said he was told by survivors that several Haitians attempted to jump off the 28-foot boat and flee to land as they neared the island of Providenciales, and the surge caused the overloaded sloop to overturn.

Authorities rescued 33, including one 12-year-old boy, and recovered the bodies of 17 people. Divers and U.S. Coast Guard helicopters were assisting in a search for survivors or victims.

Defiant Iranians propose 60% uranium

TEHRAN, Iran - Some 100 Iranian lawmakers introduced a bill in parliament that would force the government to increase uranium enrichment to 60 percent if new sanctions are imposed on the Islamic Republic, state television reported Wednesday.

The broadcaster said the bill would be put on parliament’s agenda for a debate but didn’t say when it would be discussed. The bill has to be approved by the 290-seat house and then ratified by a constitutional watchdog to become law.

The bill is likely a response to legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate last week that would authorize new economic sanctions on Iran if it breaches the interim nuclear deal reached in Geneva last month or fails to strike a final agreement.

Under the deal, Iran agreed to limit its uranium enrichment to 5 percent and neutralize its stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium in return for the easing of some sanctions and a pledge not to impose new ones.

Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, a member of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said the bill, if approved, will give Iran’s nuclear negotiators more leverage.

No mass grave in S. Sudan, U.N. says

NAIROBI, Kenya - The United Nations mission in South Sudan has denied a report of a mass grave that was issued by the Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Berlin office of Navi Pillay had said Tuesday that a grave of 75 bodies was found in Bentiu in Unity state. Later, the office revised that figure to 34 bodies and 75 people feared missing.

The U.N. mission in South Sudan said the erroneous report was an inflation of a “skirmish” in which 15 people were killed.

Ethiopia Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom said the leaders of six East African countries will travel to South Sudan today to advance peace talks and end 10 days of violence.

Heavy fighting continued Wednesday in the battle for the city of Malakal, in the northern part of the country.

The South Sudanese military has retaken Bor, the capital of the strategic but unstable Jonglei state, which rebel forces seized last week, and hundreds of civilians returned to the city Wednesday.

Front Section, Pages 6 on 12/26/2013

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