Today's Reuters World News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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Typhoon kills more than 436 in southern Philippines
Sat,17 Dec 2011 07:30 PM PST
Reuters -  CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines (Reuters) - More than 400 people were killed and an unknown number were missing after a typhoon struck the southern Philippines, causing flash floods and landslides and driving tens of thousands from their homes. In a text message to Reuters, Gwendolyn Pang, secretary-general of the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC), said the death toll of 436 was expected to rise. ...
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Hundreds of migrants missing off Indonesia as boat sinks
Sat,17 Dec 2011 07:13 PM PST
Reuters -  JAKARTA (Reuters) - At least 217 people were missing, and possibly scores more, after an overcrowded boat packed with illegal immigrants heading for Australia sank in heavy seas overnight off the coast of east Java in Indonesia, authorities said on Sunday. Many of the passengers on the wooden vessel are believed to be economic migrants from countries including Iran and Afghanistan. Indonesia is a transit point for illegal immigrants from the Middle East who cross the Indian Ocean in search of a better life in Australia. ...
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Australia to probe 31-year mystery of baby's death again
Sat,17 Dec 2011 05:43 PM PST
Reuters - SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia will hold a new inquest into the controversial 1980 disappearance of baby Azaria Chamberlain at Ayer's Rock, a famous landmark in the central Australian outback, a government spokesman said on Sunday. The inquest will be the fourth into the infant's death, which drew international attention after her mother, Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, was convicted of murder in 1982 and sentenced to life imprisonment. The conviction was later quashed. A conviction against the baby's father, Michael Chamberlain, as an accessory after the fact was also later quashed. ... Full Story | Top |
Troops, protesters clash in Cairo for third day
Sat,17 Dec 2011 05:17 PM PST
Reuters -  CAIRO (Reuters) - Military police battled demonstrators in Cairo's Tahrir Square early Sunday, the third day of clashes that have killed 10 people and injured hundreds, only days after the first free election most Egyptians can remember. Egyptian television showed military police advancing from behind their barriers and fighting protesters in the square, the hub of the uprising that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak, at around 1 a.m. ...
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Boat with illegal migrants sinks off Indonesia, 300 missing
Sat,17 Dec 2011 03:33 PM PST
Reuters - JAKARTA (Reuters) - A boat carrying illegal immigrants heading for Australia sank off the coast of east Java in Indonesia and over 300 people were missing with many feared dead, a senior emergency official said. Only 76 people of 380 people on board had been rescued, said Sahrul Arifin, the head of emergency and logistics at the East Java Disaster Mitigation Center. He said strong waves wrecked the wooden boat about 90 km (56 miles) out to sea late Saturday night. ... Full Story | Top |
Nigeria seizes bomb factory after Islamist attacks
Sat,17 Dec 2011 01:04 PM PST
Reuters - MAIDUGURI/KANO (Reuters) - Nigerian authorities raided a bomb making factory Saturday belonging to suspected members of an Islamist sect in the northeast, the military said, after gun and bomb attacks across northern Nigeria over four days killed at least seven people. Militant group Boko Haram is waging a low level insurgency against Nigeria's government. It used to be largely confined to its remote northeast Borno state, but this year has struck other provinces in the mostly Muslim north and the capital, Abuja. ... Full Story | Top |
Arabs may take Syria peace plan to United Nations
Sat,17 Dec 2011 12:42 PM PST
Reuters -  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Arab states may take their proposals for ending Syria's crackdown on protests to the U.N. Security Council next week unless Damascus agrees to implement the initiative, Qatar's foreign minister said on Saturday. Expressing frustration that Syria had not carried out the plan, six weeks after it was first agreed, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said the window for an Arab solution to the crisis was closing. ...
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France Sarkozy's popularity remains stable: poll
Sat,17 Dec 2011 12:36 PM PST
Reuters -  PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy's popularity has remained stable but most voters continue to be unimpressed by his policies, a poll to be published in weekly newspaper Journal du Dimanche Sunday showed. The IFOP-JDD poll indicated 34 percent of respondents were satisfied with Sarkozy's policies - unchanged from November, when the president's popularity showed a three percent rise after three months of consecutive falls. The poll only showed approval ratings for Sarkozy and Prime Minister Francois Fillon, whose popularity inched up four percent in the last month. ...
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Panetta says Libya faces long, difficult transition
Sat,17 Dec 2011 12:05 PM PST
Reuters -  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta told Libya's leaders on Saturday they faced a long, hard road in moving on from 42 years of one-man rule and uniting rival militias that still hold the streets in the oil-producing North African state. Panetta, the first U.S. defence chief ever to visit Libya, said Washington stood ready to help but offered no specific aid to a leadership struggling to stamp its authority two months after the capture and killing of Muammar Gaddafi. ...
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Iraq Sunni bloc suspends parliament participation
Sat,17 Dec 2011 11:51 AM PST
Reuters - BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Sunni-backed bloc on Saturday suspended its participation in parliament accusing Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government of concentrating power, a sign of rising political tensions as U.S. troops withdraw. The move by the Iraqiya parliamentary bloc, headed by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, intensifies political jostling among the Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish blocs who form Iraq's fragile power-sharing government. Iraqiya said in a statement it was "suspending its participation in parliament ... ... Full Story | Top |
Cradle of Arab Spring celebrates first anniversary
Sat,17 Dec 2011 11:44 AM PST
Reuters -  SIDI BOUZID, Tunisia (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people packed a provincial town square to celebrate the first anniversary on Saturday of Tunisia's democratic revolution in the place where it began, unleashing a tide of popular revolt that has transformed the Arab world. The festive mood in Sidi Bouzid was tempered somewhat, however, by reminders that democratic change in Tunisia has yet to ease poverty and high unemployment - bread and butter issues that preoccupy many Tunisians and have triggered rioting. ...
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NATO closes up training mission in Iraq
Sat,17 Dec 2011 09:58 AM PST
Reuters - BAGHDAD (Reuters) - NATO closed its seven-year training mission in Iraq on Saturday, at the same time as U.S. troops withdraw from the country after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. The alliance said on Monday it would end its mission after talks with Iraqi officials to extend the programme failed, due to disagreements over legal framework covering NATO forces in Iraq. ... Full Story | Top |
Ruling party nominates Kremlin chief as Duma speaker
Sat,17 Dec 2011 09:26 AM PST
Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's ruling United Russia party, whose majority was reduced in this month's parliamentary election, on Saturday backed Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Naryshkin to become speaker of the State Duma (lower house), the party said. Naryshkin, 57, whose nomination had been widely expected, will take over from Boris Gryzlov, who quit in a move apparently aimed at cooling public anger over an election opponents say was rigged in United Russia's favor. ... Full Story | Top |
Warring Yemen forces quit Sanaa, 2 troops die in south
Sat,17 Dec 2011 09:02 AM PST
Reuters -  SANAA (Reuters) - Forces loyal to outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his opponents withdrew from their positions in the capital Sanaa on Saturday, witnesses and officials said, in a further sign a peace deal signed last month was being implemented. In southern Yemen, two government soldiers were killed in a clash with Islamist militants, medical sources said, as insurgents linked to al Qaeda challenged the peace accord aimed at pulling the country away from civil war. ...
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Typhoon kills more than 436 in southern Philippines
Sat,17 Dec 2011 08:53 AM PST
Reuters -  CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines (Reuters) - More than 400 people were killed and an unknown number were missing after a typhoon struck the southern Philippines, causing flash floods and landslides and driving tens of thousands from their homes. In a text message to Reuters, Gwendolyn Pang, secretary-general of the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC), said the death toll of 436 was expected to rise. ...
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Kazakh leader orders curfew after oil city riots
Sat,17 Dec 2011 08:19 AM PST
Reuters - ALMATY (Reuters) - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on Saturday declared a 20-day state of emergency in a western oil city where at least 11 people have been killed in the deadliest outbreak of violence in the Central Asian state's recent history. Wounded victims filled hospitals in Zhanaozen and many oil workers stayed at home, fearing for their safety a day after violent clashes between riot police and crowds in a city where thousands of sacked oil workers have been protesting for months. ... Full Story | Top |
Congo opposition parties plan "ghost towns"
Sat,17 Dec 2011 07:09 AM PST
Reuters - KINSHASA (Reuters) - Congo's opposition plans to turn the sprawling capital Kinshasa and other cities across the country into "ghost towns" in a show of force after the country's highest court confirmed President Joseph Kabila as winner of a disputed November 28 election. A spokesman for the opposition said on Saturday it will ask Kinshasa's 8 million residents to stay at home, joining people across the vast Central African nation in shutting down businesses and bringing public services to a standstill. ... Full Story | Top |
Iran says arrests another CIA spy
Sat,17 Dec 2011 04:52 AM PST
Reuters - TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian authorities said on Saturday they had arrested an Iranian caught spying for the United States, the Islamic Republic's latest claim of success in a spying war with Washington. State TV quoted the Intelligence Ministry as saying the arrested person had received training at U.S. bases in neighboring Afghanistan and Iraq and was meant to feed false information to Iranian intelligence. "This CIA agent of Iranian nationality began his mission after receiving training in weapons use," the ministry said in a statement quoted on television. ... Full Story | Top |
Taiwan candidates start tense presidential campaign on TV
Sat,17 Dec 2011 04:50 AM PST
Reuters -  TAIPEI (Reuters) - Candidates for Taiwan's presidential election kicked off their campaigns with a televised debate on Saturday, a month before a poll that will decide whether Taiwan deepens its integration with China or embarks on a period of more tense relations. China, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province, has made no secret of its preference for President Ma Ying-jeou, who is seeking a second term at the head of his Nationalist Party after bringing closer economic ties with the mainland since 2008. ...
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Troops assault Egypt protesters after 8 killed
Sat,17 Dec 2011 03:47 AM PST
Reuters -  CAIRO (Reuters) - Soldiers baton-charged demonstrators in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Saturday a day after street clashes killed eight people and wounded more than 300, marring the first free election most Egyptians can remember. The violence highlights the tensions in Egypt 10 months after a popular revolt toppled President Hosni Mubarak. The army generals who replaced him have angered some Egyptians by seeming reluctant to give up power. Others back the military as a force for badly needed stability during a transition to democracy. ...
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Myanmar seeks "everlasting peace" in 3 years: minister
Sat,17 Dec 2011 01:30 AM PST
Reuters - YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's government plans to bring an end to a series of decades-old conflicts with ethnic rebels within three years and has ordered troops to halt offensives against Kachin militias, its top peace negotiator said. The government was discussing ceasefire agreements with numerous armed ethnic groups and would eventually shore up the deals at a special conference in parliament to find "everlasting peace," said Aung Thaung, Minister of Industry and head of the Union Level Peace-Making Group. ... Full Story | Top |
France launches spy satellites aboard Russian rocket
Fri,16 Dec 2011 08:13 PM PST
Reuters - KOUROU, French Guiana (Reuters) - The second Russian-built Soyuz rocket launched from French Guiana blasted off late on Friday carrying six military spy satellites, space officials said. The rocket blasted off at 11.03 p.m. (0203 GMT Saturday) from a launch pad at the European Space Agency's (ESA) launch centre near Kourou, French Guiana, on the northeast coast of South America. About one hour after launch, five of the satellites separated from the rocket. The first was Pleiades, a one-tonne observation satellite to be used extensively by the French defense ministry. ... Full Story | Top |
Iraqi pleads guilty to trying to kill U.S. troops
Fri,16 Dec 2011 07:54 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Iraqi living in Kentucky pleaded guilty on Friday to charges that he tried to kill U.S. soldiers in Iraq, aided al Qaeda operatives there and taught how to make roadside bombs, the Justice Department said. Waad Ramadan Alwan, 30, pleaded guilty to a 23-count indictment in a federal court in Kentucky - a case that drew harsh criticism from Republicans in the U.S. Congress who argued that such terrorism suspects should be tried in military courts at the American military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. ... Full Story | Top |
Pilot error may have caused Iran drone crash
Fri,16 Dec 2011 05:33 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is investigating a combination of pilot error and mechanical failure as possible causes for the crash of a classified U.S. drone in Iran and does not believe Iran brought down the plane, according to two U.S. government officials. The unmanned RQ-170 Sentinel drone, which had been on a sensitive CIA surveillance mission over Iran, crashed and was apparently reassembled by Iran before being put on display in Tehran, said one of the officials, who was speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitive nature of the investigation. ... Full Story | Top |
Three dead and 257 wounded in Egyptian clashes
Fri,16 Dec 2011 03:59 PM PST
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - Three people were killed as troops fought daylong battles with protesters, showing the tensions seething in Egypt nine months after Hosni Mubarak's fall, even in the midst of polls meant to herald a promised transfer to civilian rule. The Health Ministry said 257 people had also been wounded in the clashes in Cairo on Friday, where anger at the actions of the security forces turned the city centre into a smoke-filled battleground shortly after two days of mostly peaceful voting. ...
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U.N. sanctions lifted on Libya's central bank
Fri,16 Dec 2011 03:47 PM PST
Reuters -  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council lifted sanctions on Libya's central bank and a subsidiary on Friday, clearing the way for tens of billions of dollars they hold overseas to be unfrozen to ease an acute cash crisis. The Central Bank of Libya and the Libyan Foreign Bank (LFB), an offshore institution wholly owned by the central bank, were taken off the council's sanctions list drawn up earlier this year amid civil war in the Arab state. ...
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Suspected WikiLeaks source appears in court
Fri,16 Dec 2011 03:34 PM PST
Reuters -  FORT MEADE, Maryland (Reuters) - An American Army intelligence analyst suspected of being behind the largest leak of classified documents in U.S. history made his first court appearance on Friday, sitting stone-faced as military prosecutors launched their case against him. Private First Class Bradley Manning, 23, faces charges including aiding the enemy, which could send him to prison for life. He is suspected of being the source of documents that eventually were released on the Internet by WikiLeaks -- data dumps that Washington said jeopardized national security. ...
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Iraqi pleads guilty to trying to kill US troops
Fri,16 Dec 2011 03:17 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Iraqi living in Kentucky pleaded guilty on Friday to charges that he tried to kill U.S. soldiers in Iraq, aided al Qaeda operatives there and taught how to make roadside bombs, the Justice Department said. Waad Ramadan Alwan, 30, pleaded guilty to a 23-count indictment in a federal court in Kentucky - a case that drew harsh criticism from Republicans in the U.S. Congress who argued that such terrorism suspects should be tried in military courts at the American military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. lifts sanctions on post-Gaddafi Libya
Fri,16 Dec 2011 03:15 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Friday lifted most of the economic sanctions it had in place against Libya before the fall of former ruler Muammar Gaddafi. "After careful consultation with the new Libyan government, the United States rolled back most U.S. sanctions on the government of Libya to keep our commitment to the Libyan people," the White House said in a statement. Gaddafi's 42-year rule collapsed when his forces fled Tripoli in August and the last of the fighting in Libya ended in October when he was captured and killed by rebels. The U.S. ...
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Congo's top court declares Kabila election winner
Fri,16 Dec 2011 02:45 PM PST
Reuters -  KINSHASA (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo's Supreme Court confirmed the incumbent Joseph Kabila on Friday as the winner of a disputed November 28 presidential election, rejecting opposition demands for the vote to be annulled over fraud allegations. The court's president, Jerome Kitoko, said Kabila had won 48.95 percent of the vote. "In consequence, Joseph Kabila is proclaimed president-elect of the republic with a simple majority," he said at the Justice Ministry. The court said the opposition had failed to provide proof of their allegations. ...
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Mexico telecom regulator signs contracts to friends
Fri,16 Dec 2011 02:02 PM PST
Reuters - MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The president of Mexico's phone and television regulator approved two contracts worth roughly $200,000 for businesses run by two friends, including one who works as a lobbyist for telecom companies. The contracts were for public relations and legal work for Mexico's telecom regulator Cofetel and were signed by the agency's head, Mony de Swaan. There is no evidence that de Swaan received a financial benefit from the contracts and he denies any wrongdoing. ... Full Story | Top |
Egyptian soldiers battle protesters, three dead
Fri,16 Dec 2011 01:57 PM PST
Reuters -  CAIRO (Reuters) - At least three people were killed and 257 wounded in Cairo on Friday as troops fought demonstrators in the worst violence since Egypt began its first free election in six decades. In a pattern that has recurred during nine months of army rule since President Hosni Mubarak's overthrow in February, the confrontation swiftly grew as more people took to the streets. The Health Ministry said three people had been killed and 257 wounded in the unrest in the city centre. A third died from gunshot wounds, a worker at a makeshift field hospital said. ...
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Analysis: Russia's Syria shift a bid to guard image, interests
Fri,16 Dec 2011 01:50 PM PST
Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's offer of a new U.N. Security Council resolution on the violence in Syria is a pragmatic step by a country increasingly isolated in its support for a widely discredited leader. The shift allows Russia to look less recalcitrant without giving ground on its opposition to sanctions or foreign military interference, which it has vociferously opposed since the NATO operation in Libya. ... Full Story | Top |
Syrians protest against Assad after Russia U.N. move
Fri,16 Dec 2011 01:21 PM PST
Reuters -  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian forces killed 13 people on Friday during widespread protests against President Bashar al-Assad, activists said, a day after Syria's big power ally Russia sharpened its criticism of Damascus in a draft United Nations resolution. Most of the deaths were in the city of Homs, they said, a hotbed of resistance to a crackdown on nine months of protests which has killed 5,000 people according to the United Nations and provoked Western and Arab League sanctions on Damascus. ...
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China sends campaigning rights lawyer back to jail
Fri,16 Dec 2011 12:03 PM PST
Reuters -  BEIJING (Reuters) - China has sent human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng back to jail, state news agency Xinhua reported on Friday, ending his probation in what was the first official account of his whereabouts in the last year. Gao, however, appears never to have escaped secretive confinement in the first place. A combative rights advocate who tackled many causes anathema to the ruling Communist Party, Gao was sentenced to three years' jail in 2006 for "inciting subversion of state power", a charge often used to punish critics of one-party rule. ...
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Bahraini police fire tear gas at protesters: witnesses
Fri,16 Dec 2011 04:53 PM PST
Reuters -  DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahraini police fired tear gas and clashed with Shi'ite Muslim protesters on Friday, a day after a man was run over and killed as he fled security forces chasing protesters near Manama, the opposition and a rights group said on Friday. Tensions have been high in Bahrain since security forces crushed weeks of pro-democracy street protests by the Gulf kingdom's majority Shi'ite Muslims in March. ...
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U.S. withdrawal in Iraq rolls into final act
Fri,16 Dec 2011 01:20 PM PST
Reuters -  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - American soldiers signed over their last military base to Iraqi officials on Friday with the U.S. troop pullout drawing to an swift end nearly nine years after the invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. The few thousand remaining U.S. troops are scheduled to leave Iraq before December 31, closing a U.S. military venture that cost the lives of nearly 4,500 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis caught up in sectarian strife. Iraqi and U.S. ...
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U.S. hands over last detainee to Iraq
Fri,16 Dec 2011 11:00 AM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Friday handed over its last detainee in Iraq to Iraqi authorities, a White House official told Reuters, after months of failed efforts by Washington to convince Baghdad to allow his extradition for trial. White House National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said Iraq had given assurances that Ali Mussa Daqduq, suspected of orchestrating a 2007 kidnapping that resulted in the killing of five U.S. military personnel, would be tried for his crimes. U.S. officials would continue to discuss the case with Baghdad, Vietor said. ... Full Story | Top |
WTO approves Russia's membership after marathon
Fri,16 Dec 2011 10:46 AM PST
Reuters -  GENEVA/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia won admission to the World Trade Organisation on Friday after 18 years of negotiations, finally gaining full integration into the global economy two decades after the Soviet Union collapsed. Russia's $1.9 trillion economy was the largest outside the WTO, and accession will help reduce the dependence on energy exports that left it badly exposed to the oil price collapse of 2008. ...
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Kabul police station attack ends, no casualties
Fri,16 Dec 2011 10:16 AM PST
Reuters -  KABUL (Reuters) - An attack on a police station in the west of Kabul on Friday ended without casualties, police and the Interior Ministry said. An attacker threw a hand grenade at the station, ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on his official Twitter account, and soon afterwards police said they had regained control. "There were gunfights in Police District Five. There were no casualties. Now everything is under control and we are investigating the case," said Mohammad Zahir, head of the criminal investigation department for Kabul police. ...
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