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| Pakistan genuine about backing Afghan peace efforts: Afghan official Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 08:00 PM PST KABUL (Reuters) - Pakistan is genuine about backing the nascent Afghan peace process and shares the Kabul government's goal of transforming the Taliban insurgency into a political movement, a senior Afghan government official told Reuters. "This is the vision that they share," said the official, who is closely involved in reconciliation efforts. He also said recent face-to-face talks between the Taliban and Afghan officials in Paris were "enormously helpful" for peace efforts. (Reporting by Michael Georgy; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani) Full Story | Top |
| Navy SEAL commander dead in Afghanistan in suspected suicide Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 07:47 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The commander of an elite U.S. Navy SEAL unit has died in Afghanistan, the Defense Department said on Sunday, and a U.S. military official said his death was being investigated as a suspected suicide. Commander Job Price, 42, of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, died on Saturday of a non-combat related injury in central Afghanistan's Uruzgan Province, the Pentagon said in a statement. "This incident is currently under investigation," it said. Price, was assigned to a Naval Special Warfare unit in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and was the commanding officer of SEAL Team Four. ... Full Story | Top |
| Survivor says principal, others saved her in U.S. school rampage Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 07:06 PM PST  NEWTOWN, Connecticut (Reuters) - A survivor of the elementary school massacre in Connecticut that killed 26 people said on Sunday the principal and two staff members had saved her and others' lives by warning that a gunman was in the building. Becky Virgalla, a reading consultant at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, said she was in a meeting with Principal Dawn Hochsprung, school psychologist Mary Sherlach and other colleagues when the shooter broke into the building on December 14. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK household finances worsen sharply in December - Markit Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 06:16 PM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - Britons suffered the biggest deterioration in their finances in seven months in December and turned more downbeat about 2013, a survey showed on Monday. The Markit Household Finance Index fell to 36.8 - the lowest since May - from November's near two-year high of 39.3, sinking further below the 50 level that would mark no change in the financial situation compared with a month ago. Around a third of respondents said their finances had worsened in December, while only 6 percent reported an improvement. Overall, households also felt less secure in their jobs than in November. ... Full Story | Top |
| Son says Romney was reluctant to run for president again: report Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 06:02 PM PST  (Reuters) - Republican Mitt Romney's family had to convince him to make a second bid for the presidency because he was reluctant to run again after failing to secure his party's nomination in 2008, Romney's son told the Boston Globe on Sunday. In an article that examined what went wrong with Romney's losing 2012 presidential campaign, Tagg Romney said his father Mitt said he had no intention of running again after he did not become the Republican presidential nominee in 2008. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Sworn enemies could decide fate of weakened Indian government Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 04:22 PM PST  NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Sonia Gandhi, the usually reserved and poised leader of India's ruling Congress party, leapt from her front-bench seat in parliament last week to grab back a document that a lawmaker had snatched from a government minister's hands. She caught the lawmaker by the arm, some media reports said, but failed to retrieve the document before it was torn up. A minor scuffle ensued between members of Congress and the offending lawmaker's Samajwadi Party (SP). The extraordinary drama lasted less than a minute. ... Full Story | Top |
| Britain's Queen Elizabeth goes 3D for Olympics tribute Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 04:12 PM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Queen Elizabeth will use her traditional Christmas Day message, filmed in 3D for the first time, to pay tribute to the world's athletes for delivering a "splendid summer of sport" at the London Olympics. In her personal address to the nation, the monarch will pay tribute to the competitors' "skill, dedication, training and teamwork", her office said on Monday. The 86-year-old head of state provided an Olympic highlight when she made a surprise comic turn with James Bond actor Daniel Craig in a short film for the opening ceremony. ... Full Story | Top |
| Putin visits India, eyes arms sales, trade and political ties Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 04:05 PM PST  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Arms sales will be on the agenda when Russian President Vladimir Putin visits India on Monday to court a country that has traditionally been a top client. Putin's trip, his first to India since he started a new Kremlin six-year term in May, is a chance to reaffirm Russia's interest in India, long a regional ally and now a partner in the BRICS group of emerging market nations. In an article for publication in the Indian newspaper The Hindu on Monday, Putin stressed that "deepening friendship and cooperation with India is among the top priorities of our foreign policy". ... Full Story | Top |
| Islamist group claims kidnap of French national in Nigeria Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 03:15 PM PST KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian Islamist group Ansaru said on Sunday it was behind the kidnap of a French national last week, citing France's ban on full-face veils and its support for military action in Mali. Ansaru sent a message to Nigerian reporters saying it was holding 63-year-old Francis Colump, who was taken on December 19 when around 30 gunmen attacked his residence in the remote northern town of Rimi, close to the Niger border. The Nigerian police declined to comment on the claim but had already named Colump as the man abducted. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fear, finger-pointing mount over "fiscal cliff" Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 02:33 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some lawmakers voiced concern on Sunday that the country would go over "the fiscal cliff" in nine days, triggering harsh spending cuts and tax hikes, and some Republicans charged that was President Barack Obama's goal. "It's the first time that I feel it's more likely that we will go over the cliff than not," Senator Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, said on CNN's "State of the Union." "If we allow that to happen it will be the most colossal consequential act of congressional irresponsibility in a long time, maybe ever in American history. ... Full Story | Top |
| Monti steps boldly into Italy election race - maybe Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 01:49 PM PST  ROME (Reuters) - Outgoing Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti has many unquestioned qualities but it is starting to seem that bold political decision-making may not be one of them. After keeping his supporters waiting for weeks to know whether he would lead them in Italy's upcoming election, Monti held an eagerly awaited news conference on Sunday - and announced that they would have to wait a little longer. For most of his 13 months in office Monti repeated that he would withdraw from politics when his term ended. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gun lobby defends call for armed guards at schools Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 01:38 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The leader of the gun lobby on Sunday defended his call for placing armed guards in all American schools despite withering criticism of the group's response to the massacre of 20 first-graders in Newtown, Connecticut. "If it's crazy to call for putting police and armed security in our schools to protect our children, then call me crazy," National Rifle Association Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre told NBC's "Meet the Press. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Security fears dogged Canada debate on China energy bid Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 01:21 PM PST  OTTAWA (Reuters) - In September, two months after China's state-owned CNOOC Ltd made an unexpected $15.1 billion bid for Canadian energy company Nexen Inc, Canada's spy agency told ministers that takeovers by Chinese companies may threaten national security. The rare warning from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), which was disclosed to Reuters by intelligence sources, did not stop the takeover. That was approved by Canadian authorities earlier this month. But the intervention and an influential U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Dock worker strike looms despite cooling-off period request Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 01:19 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dock workers on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts moved closer to a potential strike next week even though Florida's governor asked President Barack Obama to order a cooling-off period if the nearly 15,000 longshoremen walk off the job. The International Longshoremen's Association, the union representing the dock workers, and the U.S. Maritime Alliance, the group of shippers and port operators, have been bargaining since March, but reportedly remain far from a deal covering cargo handling at 15 ports on the U.S. Gulf and eastern coasts. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sudan's Bashir to give speech, after surgery last month Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 01:13 PM PST  KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir will address the nation and open a major dam on Sudan's national holiday next week, in one of his first major public appearances since undergoing surgery last month, state news agency SUNA said on Sunday. Sudanese blogs and newspapers had been speculating about Bashir's health because he has cut down public rallies in the past few months. The 68-year-old leader, who seized power in 1989, went to Saudi Arabia in November for what officials described as a "minor surgery". He also underwent surgery on his vocal cords in Qatar in August. ... Full Story | Top |
| Air strike kills dozens of Syrians waiting to buy bread Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 12:31 PM PST  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Dozens of people were killed and many more wounded in a Syrian government air strike that hit a bakery where a crowd was queuing for bread on Sunday, activists said. If confirmed, the attack on Halfaya in central Syria, which was seized by rebels last week, would be one of the deadliest air strikes of Syria's civil war. Videos uploaded by activists showed dozens of bloodstained corpses lying amid rubble and shrapnel. An adolescent boy with both his feet blown off lay flailing in the middle of a road. "When I got there, I could see piles of bodies all over the ground. ... Full Story | Top |
| In Vietnam, anti-Chinese protesters find a new outlet: soccer Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 12:12 PM PST  HANOI (Reuters) - Under the watch of plainclothes police, midfielder Nguyen Van Phuong unleashed a powerful left-foot drive into the top corner. Dissidents cheered from the sidelines. "Down with China," some shouted. Phuong pumped his fist. As tensions between Beijing and Hanoi escalate over the South China Sea, Vietnamese anti-China protesters who face repeated police crackdowns are finding a new form of political expression: soccer. "People don't feel scared playing soccer," said Phuong, the team captain, after a practice match in the capital, Hanoi. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian rebels say capture military base, seize weapons Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 12:01 PM PST HAWA, Syria (Reuters) - Syrian rebels have seized a military base in the country's north, capturing weapons they hope will repel air raids by President Bashar al-Assad's forces, rebels said on Sunday. Under cover of rain and fog, Col. Anas Ibrahim Abu Zeid led 200 fighters in a four-hour operation to take over the 135 Infantry Brigade base in the village of Hawa, a mostly Kurdish area in northern Aleppo province, on Saturday, they said, as they showed the base to journalists. The rebels found about 150 soldiers at the base, though it can hold up to 3,000 troops, Abu Zeid said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran welcomes approval of new constitution in Egypt Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 11:46 AM PST DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran welcomed on Sunday initial results that showed the approval of an Islamist-backed constitution in Egypt, the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reported. The Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, which propelled Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi to power in a June election, said an unofficial tally showed 64 percent of voters backed the charter after two rounds of voting that ended with a final ballot on Saturday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Convicted New Orleans police see opportunity in officials' errors Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 11:44 AM PST NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors scored big victories over the past two years in a quest to pluck bad police officers from the streets of New Orleans. But legal issues and recent stumbles by the U.S. attorney raise questions about whether criminal convictions of officers will stick. Convicted former police officer David Warren won a new trial last week in the fatal shooting of Henry Glover, whose body turned up in a burned-out car behind a river levee days after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005. ... Full Story | Top |
| CAR rebels seize biggest, most southern town yet Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 11:16 AM PST BANGUI (Reuters) - Rebels in the Central African Republic on Sunday seized the town of Bambari, the biggest prize yet in a push that has brought rebels to within 400 km (250 miles) of the capital, Bangui. "Bambari has fallen. It is a disaster," Mylene Abissini, a customs officer resident in the town, told Reuters by telephone. Local officials said government forces withdrew from the town, the country's third largest and the furthest south the rebel coalition has advanced, after two hours of fighting. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hillsborough disaster tribute tops UK Christmas chart Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 11:02 AM PST LONDON (Reuters) - A tribute song to the victims of the 1989 Hillsborough football stadium disaster has taken the number one spot on Britain's Christmas pop chart. "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother", a version of the ballad that was a worldwide hit for The Hollies, went to the top of the chart in its first week of release. Money raised by the single will go to the families of the 96 Liverpool soccer fans killed in Britain's worst sporting disaster in Sheffield, northern England. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's Monti opens door to seeking new term Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 11:00 AM PST  ROME (Reuters) - Two days after stepping down, Mario Monti announced on Sunday he would consider seeking a second term as Italian prime minister if approached by allies committed to backing his austere brand of reforms. The former European commissioner, appointed to lead an unelected government of experts to save Italy from financial crisis a year ago, resigned on Friday but has faced growing calls to seek a second term at a parliamentary election on February 24-25. At stake is the leadership of the world's eighth largest economy, where recession and public debt of more than 2 trillion ($2. ... Full Story | Top |
| Air strike on bakery kills dozens in central Syria Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 09:38 AM PST BEIRUT (Reuters) - Dozens of people were killed in an air strike while queuing for bread in Syria's central Hama province on Sunday, activists said, with some residents giving an initial count of 90 dead. Such a toll, if confirmed, would make it one of the deadliest air strikes in Syria's civil war. Videos uploaded by activists showed dozens of blood-stained bodies crumpled in the street among piles of rubble and shrapnel. "When I got there, I could see piles of bodies all over the ground. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fragile Egypt economy overshadows Mursi's vote win Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 09:03 AM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi will have little time to savour victory in pushing through a new constitution as it may have cost the Islamist leader broader support for urgent austerity measures needed to fix the creaking economy. By fast-tracking the constitution through to a referendum that the opposition said was divisive, he may have squandered any chance of building a consensus on tax rises and spending cuts that are essential to rein in a crushing budget deficit. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rebel faction in Ethiopia says it wants peace talks Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 09:00 AM PST ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - A faction of a separatist rebel group said on Sunday it was seeking peace talks with the Ethiopian government, a development that could help stabilise a region with potential reserves of oil and gas. The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) has fought since the mid-1980s for independence for the mainly ethnic Somali province of Ogaden in southeast Ethiopia, bordering lawless Somalia. Abdinur Abdulaye Farah, the group's representative in east Africa, said his faction was in the Ethiopian capital hoping to have talks with the government. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egyptians back new constitution in referendum Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 08:59 AM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - An Islamist-backed Egyptian constitution won approval in a referendum, rival camps said on Sunday, after a vote the opposition said would sow deep social divisions in the Arab world's most populous nation. The Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, which propelled President Mohamed Mursi to power in a June election, said an unofficial tally showed 64 percent of voters backed the charter after two rounds of voting that ended with a final ballot on Saturday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Former President George H.W. Bush remains hospitalized Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 08:55 AM PST  (Reuters) - Former President George H.W. Bush, who has been hospitalized for a month undergoing treatment for bronchitis, may not be released from a Houston hospital in time to celebrate Christmas at home as doctors had hoped. Bush, 88, remained in stable condition and doctors were optimistic he would make a full recovery, George Kovacik, a spokesman at Methodist Hospital, said in an emailed statement on Sunday. But doctors were being "extra cautious" with his care and no discharge date had been set, the statement said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Egypt's draft constitution Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 08:54 AM PST (Reuters) - Here are some details of an Islamist-backed Egyptian constitution which rival camps said had been approved in a referendum at the weekend. OVERVIEW - The draft provides for basic protections against arbitrary detention and torture and for some economic rights. But New York-based Human Rights Watch says it fails to end military trials of civilians or to protect freedom of expression and religion and rights of women and minorities. POWERS - The constitution limits the president to two four-year terms. The president must secure parliament's approval for his choice of prime minister. ... Full Story | Top |
| Somali pirates release longest-held hostages after 33 months Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 08:50 AM PST BOSASSO, Somalia (Reuters) - A ship and its crew of 22 sailors held by Somali pirates for almost three years have been freed after a two-week-long siege by maritime police, the government of the breakaway region of Puntland said on Sunday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Dozens killed in air strike on bakery in central Syria Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 07:50 AM PST BEIRUT (Reuters) - Dozens of people were killed and wounded in an air strike on a bakery in Syria's central Hama province on Sunday, activists said, with some reporting up to 200 dead. "There is no way to really know yet how many people were killed. When I got there, I could see piles of bodies all over the ground. There were women and children," said Samer al-Hamawi, an activist in the town of Halfaya, where the strike hit. ... Full Story | Top |
| France checks ministers' taxes after Swiss bank report Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 07:44 AM PST PARIS (Reuters) - French tax authorities said they were carrying out a "routine" examination of government members' personal finances and denied a report that Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac was being singled out for a specific probe. The statement was issued through Cahuzac's ministry amid weekend media reports that President Francois Hollande could be considering a government reshuffle, seven months after his May election victory against Nicolas Sarkozy. ... Full Story | Top |
| Yemen general may head new unit after army overhaul Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 07:17 AM PST  SANAA (Reuters) - A powerful army general who lost a command in a military reshuffle seen as vital to stabilizing Yemen may be given another senior post in the impoverished country's armed forces, sources at the presidency said on Sunday. Brigadier General Ahmed Saleh, whose Republican Guard was abolished in the shake-up ordered on Wednesday by his political rival, President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, is expected to be named as the commander of a military region, the sources said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria government says its forces still strong Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 07:12 AM PST  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's information minister on Sunday distanced the government from comments by the country's vice president that neither the rebels nor the forces of President Bashar al-Assad could win the civil war. Last week Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa said in a newspaper interview that the country needed a government of national unity since neither side could win militarily. "There are 23 million people in Syria with their own personal opinions, this was one of those 23 million," the information minister, Umran Ahid al-Za'bi, told a news conference in the Syrian capital Damascus. ... Full Story | Top |
| Scenarios: Seven ways the "fiscal cliff" crisis could end Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 07:01 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - So what now? The U.S. House of Representatives' rejection of a bill to raise taxes on just 0.18 percent of Americans - those making more than $1 million a year - has raised questions about the Republican-led chamber's ability to approve any plan to avert the looming "fiscal cliff." Unless President Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress can forge a deal during the Christmas and New Year's holiday season, the largest economy in the world could be thrust back into a recession because of the steep tax increases and spending cuts that are due to begin in January. ... Full Story | Top |
| German politicians allege post-election plan to cut budget Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 06:39 AM PST BERLIN (Reuters) - The junior political partners of German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned on Sunday against any attempt to raise taxes after next year's election as Europe's champion of budget discipline struggles to balance its books. The Finance Ministry has denied a Der Spiegel news magazine report that Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble wants to raise value-added tax to a uniform 19 percent, eliminating a discounted 7 percent rate on many items to bring in an extra 23 billion euros ($30 billion) each year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's Monti says taking big risk on election, may well fail Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 06:37 AM PST ROME (Reuters) - Italian caretaker Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Sunday he was aware that his willingness to play an active role in Italy's upcoming election was a risky operation. Monti told state broadcaster RAI that his choice to present a policy agenda and potentially be the candidate for prime minister for a political force that adopted it "carries many risks and a high probability of failure. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iranian businessman denies EU sanctions-busting accusation Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 06:12 AM PST DUBAI (Reuters) - An Iranian businessman named by the European Union for breaching sanctions against Iran denied any wrongdoing on Sunday, saying his bank and other companies did not work for the Iranian government. "This is a mistake," Babak Zanjani told Reuters, speaking in his office in a high-rise tower in a financial district of Dubai a day after the sanctions came into force. Neither his Malaysia-based First Islamic Bank nor his more than 60 other companies had done anything wrong, he said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Merkel ally Schavan rejects plagiarism charges Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 06:10 AM PST  BERLIN (Reuters) - A close ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday rejected allegations of plagiarism in her 1980 doctoral thesis and said she wanted to stay in the cabinet beyond September's election. The accusations are similar to those that last year brought down Merkel's defense minister and heir-apparent, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, but could prove more damaging for the government only nine months before an election. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egyptian opposition to form united party after defeats Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 05:37 AM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's opposition coalition said on Sunday it was moving towards forming a single political party to challenge Islamists, whose more disciplined ranks have dominated the ballot box since last year's revolution. Members of the opposition National Salvation Front, whose differences have split the non-Islamist vote, pledged to keep up the pressure on President Mohamed Mursi, including through peaceful protests. ... Full Story | Top |
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