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| U.S. moves to sell advanced spy drones to South Korea Tuesday, Dec 25, 2012 06:14 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration formally proposed a controversial sale of advanced spy drones to help South Korea bear more of its defense from any attack by the heavily armed North. Seoul has requested a possible $1.2 billion sale of four Northrop Grumman Corp RQ-4 "Global Hawk" remotely piloted aircraft with enhanced surveillance capabilities, the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement dated on Monday and distributed on Tuesday. South Korea needs such systems to assume top responsibility for intelligence-gathering from the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan's Abe set for second term, to tap allies for cabinet Tuesday, Dec 25, 2012 06:11 PM PST  TOKYO (Reuters) - Shinzo Abe will be voted in as prime minister by parliament's lower house on Wednesday, giving the hawkish lawmaker a second chance at Japan's top job as the country battles deflation and confronts a rising China. Abe, 58, has promised aggressive monetary easing by the Bank of Japan and big fiscal spending by the debt-laden government to slay deflation and weaken the yen to make Japanese exports more competitive. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kazakh military plane crashes, all 27 on board killed Tuesday, Dec 25, 2012 04:37 PM PST  ALMATY (Reuters) - A military transport plane crashed in southern Kazakhstan on Tuesday, killing all 27 people on board, including the commander of the Central Asian nation's border guards, local media and the KNB security service said. The twin-engine Antonov An-72 jet disappeared from radar screens at about 1900 local time (1300 GMT) as it was making a descent near the city of Shymkent, the capital of the South Kazakhstan Region. Kazakhstan's Channel 7 television showed early footage of charred and mangled fragments of the airplane scattered around a cordoned off area in a raging blizzard. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt approves constitution drafted by Mursi allies Tuesday, Dec 25, 2012 03:14 PM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian voters overwhelmingly approved a constitution drafted by President Mohamed Mursi's allies, results announced on Tuesday showed, proving that liberals, leftists and Christians have been powerless to halt the march of Islamists in power. Final elections commission figures showed the constitution adopted with 63.8 percent of the vote in the referendum held over two days this month, giving Mursi's Islamists their third straight electoral victory since veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a 2011 revolution. ... Full Story | Top |
| Central African Republic rebels seize central town, defying foreign troops Tuesday, Dec 25, 2012 02:29 PM PST BANGUI (Reuters) - Rebels in Central African Republic seized the central town of Kaga Bandoro on Tuesday despite the presence of foreign troops meant to support the government, a government official said. The fall of the town, 333 km (207 miles) north of the capital Bangui, came hours after the Seleka rebel alliance said they would suspend their push and means they now have a firm grip on the north and east of the fragile nation. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen kill six in northeast Nigeria church attack Tuesday, Dec 25, 2012 09:51 AM PST KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen killed six people at a church in northeast Nigeria early on Tuesday, the third year running that Christmas services have come under deadly attack in the country, the military said. The strike took place after a Christmas Eve midnight service outside the town of Potiskum in northeastern Yobe state, where Islamist sect Boko Haram has carried out several attacks this year. "Unknown gunmen attempted to attack Potiskum but were repelled by the troops. ... Full Story | Top |
| Eight killed in Yemen clashes; attacks in capital target officers Tuesday, Dec 25, 2012 08:47 AM PST SANAA (Reuters) - At least six militants and two soldiers were killed in Yemen on Tuesday in fighting near a damaged oil pipeline east of the capital Sanaa, a defense ministry official and residents said. Separately, gunmen and bombers targeted three senior military officers and the transport minister in a series of attacks in the capital Sanaa. In one incident, two gunmen riding a motorbike shot dead Brigadier Fadel Mohammed Ali, an adviser to the minister of defense, outside the ministry's offices in Sanaa, a police source said. Further details were not immediately available. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pope gives advice as Italians prepare for bitter campaign Tuesday, Dec 25, 2012 08:04 AM PST  ROME (Reuters) - Pope Benedict sent a political Christmas greeting to Italians on Tuesday as they head into an election campaign expected to be brutal and bitter: think, cooperate for the common good and don't discard values when making big choices. The pope, in his Christmas greetings in 65 languages, said in his special message to Italians that he hoped the spirit of the day would "make people reflect, favor the spirit of cooperation for the common good and lead to a reflection on the hierarchy of values when making the most important of choices". ... Full Story | Top |
| Gulf Arabs decry Iran "interference" in region Tuesday, Dec 25, 2012 07:39 AM PST  MANAMA (Reuters) - Six U.S.-allied Gulf Arab states demanded on Tuesday that Iran end what they called interference in the region, reiterating a long-held mistrust of their main rival. The Islamic Republic denies trying to subvert Saudi Arabia and its wealthy Gulf neighbors. A communique issued at the end of a two-day summit of the Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) also urged action to halt mass killings and violations of international law in Syria. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria envoy seeks peace as clashes rage Tuesday, Dec 25, 2012 07:19 AM PST  BEIRUT (Reuters) - International envoy Lakhdar Brahimi pursued mediation efforts in Damascus on Tuesday, but there was no pause in the bloodletting as Syrian Christians marked a bleak Christmas Day with prayers for peace. "We are here in a cave that symbolizes Syria right now," said a priest standing beside a nativity scene in a grotto. "It is cold here but the door is open to all refugees," he told Syrian state TV. "Amid the hunger, cold and deprivation, we still have hope for peace and love for our country. ... Full Story | Top |
| Afghans seek policewoman's motive for killing U.S. contractor Tuesday, Dec 25, 2012 06:32 AM PST  KABUL (Reuters) - An Iranian-Afghan policewoman who killed a U.S. contractor at the police headquarters in Kabul may have been motivated by a personal grudge, said security officials, who were also probing possible Taliban or al Qaeda involvement. The officials said the woman named as Narges seemed wracked with remorse over the shooting. They said she held an Iranian passport but offered no evidence that Iran may have orchestrated the attack. She arrived at police headquarters on Monday morning and headed to a bathroom where she loaded a pistol and hid it under her long scarf, they said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran to conduct navy drill in Strait of Hormuz in December Tuesday, Dec 25, 2012 05:32 AM PST DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran will begin six days of naval drills in the Strait of Hormuz at the end of this week, an Iranian naval commander said on Tuesday, an exercise meant to showcase its military capabilities in what is a vital oil and gas shipping route. The "Velayat 91" drills will be held from Friday to Wednesday across an area of about 1 million square kilometers in the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Oman and northern parts of the Indian Ocean, said Habibollah Sayyari, according to Iranian media. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian ruling party official shot dead in Caucasus Tuesday, Dec 25, 2012 05:13 AM PST MOSCOW (Reuters) - Two gunmen shot dead a ruling party official on Tuesday in Russia's North Caucasus, where the Kremlin is fighting to subdue an Islamist insurgency, investigators said. Unknown assailants burst into Boris Zherukov's office in Nalchik, capital of the province of Kabardino-Balkaria, and shot him twice in the head, Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement. Zherukov was head of President Vladimir Putin's ruling United Russia party faction in the local parliament. He was also rector of the local State Agricultural University. ... Full Story | Top |
| Former South African president Mandela "much better": Zuma Tuesday, Dec 25, 2012 03:45 AM PST  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Former South African president and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela is looking much better after more than two weeks in hospital, President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday. Zuma, who visited Mandela on Christmas Day, said in a statement that doctors were happy with the progress the elder statesman was making. "We found him in good spirits. He was happy to have visitors on this special day and is looking much better. The doctors are happy with the progress that he is making," said Zuma. ... Full Story | Top |
| Two killed as passenger plane lands in Myanmar rice field Tuesday, Dec 25, 2012 03:41 AM PST  YANGON (Reuters) - Two people were killed and 10 wounded in northeast Myanmar on Tuesday when a passenger plane missed an airport runway in heavy fog and landed in a rice paddy, state television said. The pilot of the Air Bagan plane touched down beyond Heho airport in Shan state, killing one passenger and a motorcyclist on the ground, MRTV said. MRTV had earlier reported the dead passenger was an 11-year-old boy but the airline later confirmed the deceased was a female tour guide. Four foreigners -- two Americans, a South Korean and a Briton -- and the pilot were among the injured. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel says has no proof poison gas used in Syria Tuesday, Dec 25, 2012 03:36 AM PST  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel voiced doubt on Tuesday about the accuracy of Syrian activists' reports that chemical weapons had been used against rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad. "We have seen reports from the opposition. It is not the first time. The opposition has an interest in drawing in international military intervention," Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon said on Army Radio. "As things stand now, we do not have any confirmation or proof that (chemical weapons) have already been used, but we are definitely following events with concern," he said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Five killed in Yemen clashes, brigadier shot dead Tuesday, Dec 25, 2012 03:28 AM PST SANAA (Reuters) - At least five militants were killed and three soldiers wounded in Yemen on Tuesday in fighting near a damaged oil pipeline east of the capital Sanaa, a defense ministry official and residents said. In a separate incident, two gunmen riding a motorbike shot dead Brigadier Fadel Mohammed Ali, an adviser to the minister of defense, outside the ministry's offices in Sanaa, a police source said. Further details were not immediately available. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tajikistan blocks scores of websites as election looms Tuesday, Dec 25, 2012 02:48 AM PST  DUSHANBE (Reuters) - Tajikistan blocked access to more than 100 websites on Tuesday, in what a government source said was a dress rehearsal for a crackdown on online dissent before next year's election when President Imomali Rakhmon will again run for office. Rakhmon, a 60-year-old former head of a Soviet cotton farm, has ruled the impoverished Central Asian nation of 7.5 million for 20 years. He has overseen constitutional amendments that allow him to seek a new seven-year term in November 2013. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian refugees face harsh winter in desperate conditions Tuesday, Dec 25, 2012 02:45 AM PST  BAB AL-SALAMEH, Syria (Reuters) - Huddled inside thin plastic tents in a makeshift camp after fleeing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's bombs thousands of refugees say they face a new enemy. "The cold is killing us," many of them say. Having survived a conflict in which more than 40,000 people are estimated to have been killed, refugees at the Bab al-Salameh camp on the Syrian-Turkish border say the winter is now a bigger threat to them than the violence engulfing their country. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran says defeats cyber attack on industrial sites Tuesday, Dec 25, 2012 02:14 AM PST DUBAI (Reuters) - An Internet virus attacked computers at industrial sites in southern Iran, in an apparent extension of a covert cyber war that initially targeted the country's nuclear facilities, an Iranian official said. Iran, the world's No. 5 oil exporter, has tightened online security since its uranium enrichment centrifuges were hit in 2010 by the Stuxnet computer worm, which Tehran believes was planted by arch-adversaries Israel or the United States. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan's opposition picks ex-trade minister as new leader Tuesday, Dec 25, 2012 12:45 AM PST TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese opposition party the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) chose former Economics Minister Banri Kaieda to replace the outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda as its new leader on Tuesday, after a crushing lower house defeat earlier this month. Kaieda, a vocal critic of the outgoing leadership, won because party members blamed Noda for his handling of snap elections, and for losing public support after unpopular decisions to raise the sales tax and restart some nuclear reactors despite the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan new PM Abe wants to correct strong yen trend Monday, Dec 24, 2012 11:48 PM PST TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's incoming Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reiterated on Tuesday a pledge to revive the economy by correcting the recent trend towards a stronger yen. Abe is set to be selected as prime minister by lawmakers on Wednesday after leading his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to a landslide victory in a lower house election earlier this month. Abe, who spoke after naming a new leadership team for the LDP, said he wanted to show voters who still doubt the party that the LDP has changed. The LDP is returning to government after three years in the opposition. ... Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela's Chavez improving after surgery: officials Monday, Dec 24, 2012 08:31 PM PST  CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is improving after a cancer operation in Cuba and has started exercising, officials said on Monday, amid doubts over whether the former soldier is in good enough health to continue governing. Vice President Nicolas Maduro said he had spoken by phone with Chavez, who was walking and doing exercises as part of his treatment. "We've gotten the best present we could get this Christmas: a phone call from our commander president," Maduro said on state television. ... Full Story | Top |
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