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Tuesday, December 13, 2011 8:32 PM PST

Today's Reuters World News Headlines - Yahoo! News: UK Conservatives take poll lead after EU veto: poll Gunman turns Belgian Christmas market into bloodbath Syrian Alawite figure speaks out against violence Syrian Alawite figure speaks out against violence Thousands of Poles protest against new EU treaty French prosecutors seek life for Carlos the Jackal Man shoots Belgian shoppers, children, kills three Iraq's oil police gear up for attacks as U.S. withdraws Tribal elders broker end to fighting in Libya region Russian tycoon eyes paper to back election bid Syria death toll hits 5,000 as insurgency spreads Analysis: Canada's Kyoto withdrawal began when Bush bolted Canada, out of Kyoto, must still cut emissions: U.N. Pakistani police rescue chained students from seminary Italian kills two Africans in apparent racist attack Yemen holds six al Qaeda suspects Politics won't determine Afghan drawdown: U.S. general Swiss charge three in nuclear weapons case Israel denounces settlers' attack on army base Iran says Obama should apologize for downed drone French U.N. envoy rules out military action in Syria Syria's wounded make dangerous trek to refuge in Lebanon Abbas raises Palestinian flag at UNESCO, eyes more Russian editor fired after Putin cursed in photo Sudan border fighting displaces over 400,000 people: U.N. Analysis: Putin critics hit back over charge of Western funding Humala alienates Peru's left, may lose sway in Congress Jailed Afghan rape victim still in prison, despite pardon Israel razing more Palestinian homes, wells: monitors Israel razing more Palestinian homes, wells: monitors Analysis: Merkel's post-summit glow fades in Germany Analysis: Russian politics hits "Putin" stocks Analysis: Putin critics hit back over charge of Western funding Another school bus crash sparks fury in China Chinese premier Wen to visit Myanmar, sources say U.S. drone crashes in Seychelles: embassy Abbas raises Palestinian flag at UNESCO Japan's post-tsunami revival plan reaches tipping point British mercenary details failed coup in book Timeline: Crackdown on protests in Syria UK Conservatives take poll lead after EU veto: poll Tue,13 Dec 2011 07:08 PM PST Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Conservatives have overtaken the Labour opposition in an opinion poll for the first time this year, enjoying a bounce on the back of Prime Minister David Cameron's veto of a new European Union treaty, the latest Reuters/Ipsos MORI poll showed on Wednesday. The rise in support for Cameron's Conservatives is all the more remarkable given Britons' increasing pessimism on the economy, with only 12 percent expecting it to improve in the next year, the lowest figure since the credit crunch began to bite in September 2008. ... Full Story Top Gunman turns Belgian Christmas market into bloodbath Tue,13 Dec 2011 04:24 PM PST Reuters - LIEGE, Belgium (Reuters) - A lone gunman brought carnage to the Belgian city of Liege on Tuesday, spraying bullets at Christmas shoppers and hurling a grenade at people waiting for a bus, killing four people including a girl of 17 months before shooting himself dead. The attack, in which another 125 people were wounded, paralyzed the centre of Belgium's fifth city, with workers trapped in offices as police sealed off the area, helicopters circled, and ambulances poured in from as far away as the Netherlands. ... Full Story Top Syrian Alawite figure speaks out against violence Tue,13 Dec 2011 04:03 PM PST Reuters - AMMAN (Reuters) - A Syrian Alawite centrist political figure said on Tuesday that four of his relatives were shot or kidnapped in sectarian violence threatening to undermine a nine-month pro-democracy uprising. In a rare named testimony about sectarian killings that have racked the central city of Homs in the last few weeks, Mohammad Saleh told Reuters that the four were targeted because they were Alawites, the same sect as President Bashar al-Assad. "The violence by the regime has provoked counter violence. ... Full Story Top Syrian Alawite figure speaks out against violence Tue,13 Dec 2011 03:41 PM PST Reuters - AMMAN (Reuters) - A Syrian Alawite centrist political figure said on Tuesday that four of his relatives were shot or kidnapped in sectarian violence threatening to undermine a nine-month pro-democracy uprising. In a rare named testimony about sectarian killings that have racked the central city of Homs in the last few weeks, Mohammad Saleh told Reuters that the four were targeted because they were Alawites, the same sect as President Bashar al-Assad. "The violence by the regime has provoked counter violence. ... Full Story Top Thousands of Poles protest against new EU treaty Tue,13 Dec 2011 03:12 PM PST Reuters - WARSAW (Reuters) - About 5,000 Poles protested in Warsaw on Tuesday against closer European integration after the government agreed to a new EU treaty for closer fiscal cooperation to tackle economic crisis. The protesters waved Polish flags and at one point chanted "Disgrace!" during the rally organized by the main opposition, the conservative, euro-skeptic Law and Justice (PiS) party. The peaceful demonstration took place on the 30th anniversary of a crackdown by communist authorities against the pro-democratic opposition lead by the Solidarity trade union. ... Full Story Top French prosecutors seek life for Carlos the Jackal Tue,13 Dec 2011 02:44 PM PST Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - French prosecutors on Tuesday demanded a second life sentence for the veteran Marxist militant Carlos the Jackal for carrying out four bomb attacks in France in the early 1980s that killed 11 people and injured nearly 200. The Venezuelan-born 62-year-old, one of a generation of urban guerrillas who wrought havoc in the 1970s and 1980s with attacks on establishment figures and institutions, is already serving a life sentence for killing two police officers and an informant in Paris in 1975. ... Full Story Top Man shoots Belgian shoppers, children, kills three Tue,13 Dec 2011 02:36 PM PST Reuters - LIEGE, Belgium (Reuters) - A man hurled grenades at a bus stop in the Belgian city of Liege and sprayed gunfire at crowds of Christmas shoppers and children on Tuesday, killing three people and wounding 123 before fatally shooting himself in the head. It was not clear what his motive was, but Belgian officials said there was no indication it was an act of terrorism. ... Full Story Top Iraq's oil police gear up for attacks as U.S. withdraws Tue,13 Dec 2011 01:58 PM PST Reuters - BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's oil police have stepped up patrols to protect installations against a possible surge in al Qaeda attacks as U.S. troops withdraw, the head of the force said on Tuesday. Multibillion-dollar deals Baghdad signed with energy majors could quadruple oil output capacity to Saudi levels within six years but that depends on the OPEC member securing oilfields, refineries and other vital infrastructure. Major General Hamid Ibrahim, head of Iraq's energy protection force, said half of all attacks planned by al Qaeda targeted the country's oil sector. ... Full Story Top Tribal elders broker end to fighting in Libya region Tue,13 Dec 2011 01:21 PM PST Reuters - WAMIS, Libya (Reuters) - An outbreak of fighting south of the Libyan capital which killed at least four people stopped on Tuesday after local elders agreed a ceasefire, Reuters journalists in the area said. The conflict, a flare-up of an old rivalry between the provincial town of Zintan and the neighboring El-Mashasha tribe, underlined the tension and insecurity in Libya after the overthrow of leader Muammar Gaddafi. ... Full Story Top Russian tycoon eyes paper to back election bid Tue,13 Dec 2011 12:51 PM PST Reuters - (Reuters) - Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who hopes to challenge Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in a presidential election next March, is exploring a bid for the influential daily Kommersant to back up his campaign. A source at Onexim, Prokhorov's investment fund, told Reuters that Onexim was in the early stages of negotiations to buy the Kommersant publishing house from tycoon Alisher Usmanov. ... Full Story Top Syria death toll hits 5,000 as insurgency spreads Tue,13 Dec 2011 12:02 PM PST Reuters - AMMAN (Reuters) - Security forces shot dead 17 people in Syria on Tuesday and rebels killed seven police in an ambush, activists said, after the U.N. human rights chief put the death toll from nine months of protest against President Bashar al-Assad at 5,000. The bloodshed in the northern province of Idlib, which borders Turkey, highlighted the accelerating violence in Syria where an insurgency has begun to overshadow what started as peaceful street protests against Assad's 11-year rule. ... Full Story Top Analysis: Canada's Kyoto withdrawal began when Bush bolted Tue,13 Dec 2011 12:00 PM PST Reuters - OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's widely criticized withdrawal from the Kyoto protocol ends a decade-long saga that began in earnest when former President George W. Bush walked away from the global climate change treaty in 2001. The close links between the two economies, and the fact the United States has a population almost 10 times larger than that of Canada, meant that Ottawa ultimately felt it had to follow Washington's lead and ignore the diplomatic fallout. "That's the reality. ... Full Story Top Canada, out of Kyoto, must still cut emissions: U.N. Tue,13 Dec 2011 11:47 AM PST Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Canada still has a legal obligation under U.N. rules to cut its emissions despite the country's pullout from the Kyoto Protocol, the U.N. climate chief said Tuesday. Christiana Figueres also said the timing of Canada's move, a day after a deal to extend it was clinched at a U.N. summit in South Africa, was both regrettable and surprising. Canada Monday withdraw from Kyoto, dealing a symbolic blow to the treaty, with environment minister Peter Kent breaking the news just after his return from talks in Durban. ... Full Story Top Pakistani police rescue chained students from seminary Tue,13 Dec 2011 11:34 AM PST Reuters - KARACHI (Reuters) - Police in the Pakistani city of Karachi have rescued 54 students from the basement of an Islamic seminary, or madrassa, where they said they were kept in chains by clerics, beaten and barely fed. Police raided the Zakariya madrassa late on Monday on the outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan's commercial hub. They were now investigating whether it had any links to violent militant groups, which often recruit from hardline religious schools. Most victims had signs of severe torture, and had developed wounds from the chains, police said. ... Full Story Top Italian kills two Africans in apparent racist attack Tue,13 Dec 2011 11:23 AM PST Reuters - FLORENCE, Italy (Reuters) - An Italian man killed two African street sellers and wounded three others in an apparent racist shooting rampage in the heart of Florence on Tuesday before committing suicide, police said. Gianluca Casseri, 50, who Italian officials said was a right-wing extremist, parked his car in the crowded Dalmazia square at lunch time, got out and started shooting with a large pistol, witnesses said. Two Senegalese men were killed and one seriously injured. After the shooting, he drove away and opened fire again about two hours later in the central San Lorenzo market. ... Full Story Top Yemen holds six al Qaeda suspects Tue,13 Dec 2011 11:21 AM PST Reuters - SANAA (Reuters) - Yemeni security forces arrested six alleged al Qaeda militants on Tuesday for plotting attacks on foreign and local targets, the new unity government said. The announcement came a day after a jail break in which security sources told Reuters seven al Qaeda prisoners had escaped, highlighting Yemen's patchy record against the militant group. They were among 16 who tunneled their way out of a prison in Aden, although an interior ministry official denied any al Qaeda link. ... Full Story Top Politics won't determine Afghan drawdown: U.S. general Tue,13 Dec 2011 11:15 AM PST Reuters - KABUL (Reuters) - The United States will make decisions about when and how fast to withdraw troops from Afghanistan based on military strategy rather than political mandates, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces there said on Tuesday. The United States and its NATO allies are gradually drawing forces out of Afghanistan, and handing over security responsibilities to Afghan forces, as they seek to curtail their involvement in a long, costly war. ... Full Story Top Swiss charge three in nuclear weapons case Tue,13 Dec 2011 10:23 AM PST Reuters - ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland has charged a father and two sons with involvement in the smuggling ring of Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's atom bomb who sold nuclear secrets to North Korea, Iran and Libya, prosecutors said Tuesday. The three Swiss men were engineers who worked with centrifuges - used to enrich nuclear material - and became friends with Khan, media reported. The office of Switzerland's attorney general (OAG) said the men had admitted to offences including forgery and money laundering in the hope of a reduced sentence. ... Full Story Top Israel denounces settlers' attack on army base Tue,13 Dec 2011 10:01 AM PST Reuters - JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli minister denounced a group of hardline Jewish settlers as "terrorists" on Tuesday after they vandalized an Israeli army base in the occupied West Bank. Dozens of settlers threw stones at a commander and his deputy, who was lightly injured, an army spokesman said. They also smashed the windows of military vehicles with stones and paint bottles and punctured their tires. Spokesman Yoav Mordechai said the attack happened after rumors spread of an imminent eviction of settlement outposts. ... Full Story Top Iran says Obama should apologize for downed drone Tue,13 Dec 2011 08:53 AM PST Reuters - TEHRAN (Reuters) - President Barack Obama should apologize for sending an unmanned spy plane into Iranian territory rather than asking for it back after it was seized, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday. Iran announced on December 4 it had downed the spy plane in the eastern part of the country, near Afghanistan. It has since shown the plane on television and said it is close to cracking its technological secrets. On Monday, Obama told a news conference: "We have asked for it back. We'll see how the Iranians respond. ... Full Story Top French U.N. envoy rules out military action in Syria Tue,13 Dec 2011 08:31 AM PST Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - France's ambassador to the United Nations ruled out using military force for now in Syria saying everything had to be done politically to avoid Syria and the Middle East as a whole being set "ablaze." "It's is not just the humanitarian situation we have to worry about, but the risk that Syria slides into civil war and that the whole region is set on fire," Gerard Araud told French private television station iFull Story Top Syria's wounded make dangerous trek to refuge in Lebanon Tue,13 Dec 2011 08:07 AM PST Reuters - BEKAA VALLEY, Lebanon (Reuters) - The elderly Lebanese doctor gets a text message: "Your bag of eggplants is ready." He jumps in his jeep and races into the foothills on the Syrian border, searching for the wounded protester he knows is waiting for his help. "Sometimes I get a call to treat a stomach ache, but find a Syrian smuggled in with a bullet in his side. I see at least one of them a day now," says Dr. Mahmoud, using a false name. Moving the wounded over the tense and closely watched frontier requires coded messages, he says. ... Full Story Top Abbas raises Palestinian flag at UNESCO, eyes more Tue,13 Dec 2011 08:05 AM PST Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Abbas symbolically hoisted the Palestinian flag at the headquarters of the U.N. cultural agency on Tuesday calling it the first step to international recognition for Palestine. Some 50 diplomatic guests watched as Abbas lifted the flag while the Palestinian national anthem was played at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris, through biting wind and pouring rain. "It is moving to see our flag raised and for it to be flying in this beautiful city of Paris among all the other states. ... Full Story Top Russian editor fired after Putin cursed in photo Tue,13 Dec 2011 07:59 AM PST Reuters - Please note strong language in paragraph 17. MOSCOW (Reuters) - The editor of a prominent Russian news magazine said he had been fired after the weekly printed a photograph featuring an obscene message addressed to Vladimir Putin as part of extensive reports on alleged fraud in a December 4 parliamentary election. Maxim Kovalsky said on Tuesday he had been dismissed as editor of Kommersant-Vlast over the magazine's Monday edition, which included several articles examining alleged electoral violations favoring Prime Minister Putin's United Russia party. ... Full Story Top Sudan border fighting displaces over 400,000 people: U.N. Tue,13 Dec 2011 07:53 AM PST Reuters - KHARTOUM (Reuters) - About 417,000 people have been displaced in Sudan's border states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile as a result of ongoing fighting between the army and insurgents, the United Nations said on Tuesday. Fighting broke out between Sudan's army and SPLM-North rebels in June in South Kordofan which borders newly-independent South Sudan. Violence spread to the neighboring northern border state of Blue Nile in September. About 82,000 people have fled both northern states to South Sudan or Ethiopia to escape fighting, U.N. officials told reporters in the capital Khartoum. ... Full Story Top Analysis: Putin critics hit back over charge of Western funding Tue,13 Dec 2011 07:33 AM PST Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - When reporters from a Kremlin-friendly television channel barged into his office last month asking questions about Western funding, Grigory Melkonyants knew there was trouble ahead. He and his boss at independent election monitor Golos had already sat for three interviews with the channel, NTV, and made no secret about financing that the group receives from organizations such as the European Union and USAID. "But that wasn't enough because they needed some kind of scandal," said Melkonyants, Golos' 30-year-old deputy executive director. ... Full Story Top Humala alienates Peru's left, may lose sway in Congress Tue,13 Dec 2011 07:30 AM PST Reuters - LIMA (Reuters) - Peruvian leftists who supported President Ollanta Humala for years are leaving the government and may stop supporting him in Congress, saying his emerging authoritarian tone amounts to a further drift to the right. At least two high-profile leftist aides who felt betrayed have quit their posts and more resignations are expected after Humala, a former military officer, shuffled his Cabinet over the weekend. Humala picked as prime minister his instructor from the military who had led a crackdown on anti-mining protests. ... Full Story Top Jailed Afghan rape victim still in prison, despite pardon Tue,13 Dec 2011 07:23 AM PST Reuters - KABUL (Reuters) - An Afghan woman who was jailed for "forced adultery" after a relative raped her, and then officially pardoned after an international outcry over the case, is still in prison nearly two weeks after a judicial panel announced she could go free. Sex outside marriage -- even in cases of rape -- is one of several "moral crimes" for which women are currently imprisoned in Afghanistan. Others include running away from an abusive husband or a forced marriage. Gulnaz, now 21, was attacked by her cousin's husband in 2009 and then given a two-year sentence for "adultery by force. ... Full Story Top Israel razing more Palestinian homes, wells: monitors Tue,13 Dec 2011 07:21 AM PST Reuters - JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel has stepped up its demolitions of Palestinian property in occupied land this year, razing double the number of homes and water wells from 2010, human rights groups said on Tuesday. The statement endorsed by 20 organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch further said Jewish settler violence against Palestinians had risen in 2011 and that Israel had sped up its expansion of settler enclaves. ... Full Story Top Israel razing more Palestinian homes, wells: monitors Tue,13 Dec 2011 06:52 AM PST Reuters - JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel has stepped up its demolitions of Palestinian property in occupied land this year, razing double the number of homes and water wells from 2010, human rights groups said on Tuesday. The statement endorsed by 20 organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch further said Jewish settler violence against Palestinians had risen in 2011 and that Israel had sped up its expansion of settler enclaves. ... Full Story Top Analysis: Merkel's post-summit glow fades in Germany Tue,13 Dec 2011 06:49 AM PST Reuters - BERLIN (Reuters) - Praise for Angela Merkel's tough negotiating skills in forcing through a deal on European budget rules has given way to warnings that the chancellor risks using up her political credit among Germans. Britain's rejection of last week's agreement, backed by the EU's other 26 leaders, gave Merkel respite from foreign media caricatures casting her as a Kaiser or Fuehrer intent on dominating Europe. But she won only fleeting relief, as U.S. ... Full Story Top Analysis: Russian politics hits "Putin" stocks Tue,13 Dec 2011 06:07 AM PST Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - Call it the Putin sell-off. Shares in Russian companies perceived to have ties to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, or to have profited from the economic system he has built, have sold off hardest on a spike in political risk following this month's parliamentary election. The biggest faller in a declining market has been gas firm Novatek, in which oil trader Gennady Timchenko, a friend from Putin's days in St Petersburg's city hall in the early 1990s, is a major shareholder. ... Full Story Top Analysis: Putin critics hit back over charge of Western funding Tue,13 Dec 2011 06:07 AM PST Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - When reporters from a Kremlin-friendly television channel barged into his office last month asking questions about Western funding, Grigory Melkonyants knew there was trouble ahead. He and his boss at independent election monitor Golos had already sat for three interviews with the channel, NTV, and made no secret about financing that the group receives from organizations such as the European Union and USAID. "But that wasn't enough because they needed some kind of scandal," said Melkonyants, Golos' 30-year-old deputy executive director. ... Full Story Top Another school bus crash sparks fury in China Tue,13 Dec 2011 05:58 AM PST Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - Fifteen children were killed when a school bus crashed in China's eastern province of Jiangsu, state media said on Tuesday, the latest in a string of accidents fanning public fury across the country. The bus rolled into a ditch as it veered off the road to avoid a pedicab, the Xinhua news agency said. At least eight children were injured in the accident, which happened after school on Monday. ... Full Story Top Chinese premier Wen to visit Myanmar, sources say Tue,13 Dec 2011 05:32 AM PST Reuters - (Reuters) - China's premier will visit Myanmar next week for a summit of Mekong River countries, sources familiar with planning for the meeting told Reuters on Tuesday, opening the way for Beijing to shore up ties with a neighbor that has lately courted Washington. Wen Jiabao's trip follows Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's landmark visit that saw Myanmar's new civilian government pledge to forge ahead with political reforms and re-engage with the global community. ... Full Story Top U.S. drone crashes in Seychelles: embassy Tue,13 Dec 2011 05:09 AM PST Reuters - VICTORIA (Reuters) - A U.S. drone aircraft crashed at Seychelles International Airport on Tuesday, the U.S. embassy in Mauritius said. "A U.S. Air Force remote-piloted MQ-9 crashed at the Seychelles International Airport in Mahe. The MQ-9 was not armed and no injuries were reported," the embassy said in a statement. The Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) confirmed the incident and said that the plane was on a "routine patrol" and had crashed because of mechanical failure. The U.S. embassy did not comment on the plane's mission and said that the cause of the crash was unknown. ... Full Story Top Abbas raises Palestinian flag at UNESCO Tue,13 Dec 2011 04:58 AM PST Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Abbas symbolically hoisted the Palestinian flag at the headquarters of the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO Tuesday to celebrate the Palestinians' admission in October as a full member of the organization. Some 50 diplomatic guests watched as Abbas lifted the flag to the Palestinian national anthem and said he hoped UNESCO's move was the beginning of international recognition for Palestine. The Palestinian national anthem played as a morning of biting wind and rain gave way to a burst of sunshine. ... Full Story Top Japan's post-tsunami revival plan reaches tipping point Tue,13 Dec 2011 04:57 AM PST Reuters - TOKYO (Reuters) - Nine months after a historic magnitude 9.0 earthquake unleashed a deadly tsunami that wreaked havoc across Japan's northeast, the nation, armed with $155 billion in funding, is entering a critical stage of the rebuilding effort. Damaged railways and major roads are mostly fixed with at least temporary repairs, two-thirds of ruined ports have been restored and 47,000 households moved from emergency shelters to temporary housing. ... Full Story Top British mercenary details failed coup in book Tue,13 Dec 2011 04:34 AM PST Reuters - JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - British mercenary Simon Mann may be one of the luckiest foiled coup plotters in history. The soldier of fortune expected to spend the rest of his days rotting in a tropical dungeon for his role in an attempted African putsch in 2004 that went horribly awry. Two years after he got an improbable pardon from Equatorial Guinea's strongman President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo for his bid to overthrow him, Mann has returned to the oil-rich west African nation three times a free man. ... Full Story Top Timeline: Crackdown on protests in Syria Tue,13 Dec 2011 04:27 AM PST Reuters - (Reuters) - Following is a timeline of events in Syria since protests began: March 16, 2011 - Security forces break up a gathering in Marjeh Square in Damascus of 150 protesters holding pictures of imprisoned relatives. March 24 - President Bashar al-Assad orders the formation of a committee to study how to raise living standards and lift the law covering emergency rule, in place for 48 years. March 29 - Government resigns. April 3 - Assad asks Adel Safar, a former agriculture minister, to form a new government. ... Full Story Top

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