US hands massive base over to Iraqi control

BAGHDAD, Dec 2 (agencies): The United States Friday handed over to Iraqi control the sprawling Victory Base Complex near Baghdad, the main base from which the US war in Iraq was run, a US military spokesman said. "The Victory Base Complex (VBC) was officially signed over to the receivership of the Iraqi government this morning. The base is no longer under US control and is now under the full authority of the government of Iraq," said Colonel Barry Johnson, a spokesman for United States Forces - Iraq (USF-I). Another report adds: In statement by Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaida leader says group captured Warren Weinstein, a 70-year-old American who went missing in August in Pakistan. Al Qaida claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of a Jewish American man who has gone missing Pakistan, the group's leader said Thursday, citing a lifting of Israel's "siege" of the Gaza Strip as one condition toward securing the man's release. Yemeni govt forces kill three people Yemeni government forces killed three people in the protest hotbed city of Taiz Friday, activists and medical workers said, and the man heading a new government meant to prevent civil war in Yemen said it could unravel if the killing went on. The bloodshed in Taiz made clear that a political deal to ease President Ali Abdullah Saleh from power has yet to defuse violent political struggle, marked by 10 months of bloodstained unrest, over the fate of Saleh and the impoverished country. Bloodshed continues in Syria Bloodshed continued in Syria in what one United Nations official said was now a "civil war" that has cost at least 4,000 lives since March. Six people were killed and five critically wounded during an army sweep into the restive town of al-Trimsa in Hama province, a hotbed of anti-Assad sentiment, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. At least four were killed in other incidents as troops backed by tanks rounded up suspects by the score. Fear of 'farce' looms over Afghanistan conference A major international conference Monday will seek to chart a course for Afghanistan after NATO troops pull out in 2014 but a boycott by Pakistan has dealt a stinging blow to hopes for a roadmap. The meeting will bring 100 national delegations to the western German city of Bonn. However a deadly NATO bombing raid prompted Pakistan to scratch its name from the list, jeopardising already modest expectations. Saudi Arabia rejects amnesty repression claims A Saudi policeman checks a driver in Saudi Arabia's eastern Gulf coast town of Qatif 25 November 2011 Saudi Arabia has stepped up security in its restive Eastern ProvinceSaudi Arabia has said that a report by Amnesty International - accusing the kingdom of reacting to the Arab Spring by launching a wave of repression - is based on "inaccurate information". The human rights group said hundreds of people had been arrested in the east, many of them without charge or trial.