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| India gang rape victim dies in Singapore hospital Friday, Dec 28, 2012 08:02 PM PST  SINGAPORE/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An Indian woman whose gang rape in New Delhi triggered violent protests died of her injuries on Saturday in a Singapore hospital, bringing a security lockdown in Delhi and recognition from India's prime minister that social change is needed. The Indian capital braced for a new wave of protests, closing metro stations and banning vehicles from the city centre district where young activists had converged to demand improved women's rights. The news came in the early hours of the morning in India and there were no signs of protests as morning broke. ... Full Story | Top |
| Senate leaders to make last-ditch "fiscal cliff" effort Friday, Dec 28, 2012 05:21 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and U.S. congressional leaders agreed on Friday to make a final effort to prevent the United States from going over the "fiscal cliff," setting off intense bargaining over Americans' tax rates as a New Year's Eve deadline looms. With only days left to avoid steep tax hikes and spending cuts that could cause a recession, two Senate veterans will try to forge a deal that has eluded the White House and Congress for months. Obama said he was "modestly optimistic" an agreement could be found. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: U.N. confronts failure of diplomacy in Syria Friday, Dec 28, 2012 04:42 PM PST  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Attempts by the United Nations to end the bloody 21-month-old Syrian conflict through diplomacy have been a resounding failure and there is little reason to expect a quick change given the Russian-U.S. rift on Syria. After a year of intensive diplomatic efforts by the world body, U.N.-Arab League peace mediator Lakhdar Brahimi of Algeria has made no more progress than his predecessor, former U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama: "modestly optimistic" fiscal cliff deal can be reached Friday, Dec 28, 2012 03:42 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama held out hope for a last-minute agreement to avoid the "fiscal cliff" of tax increases and spending cuts after a meeting with congressional leaders, scolding Congress for leaving the problem unresolved until the eleventh hour. "The hour for immediate action is here," he told reporters at the White House. "I'm modestly optimistic that an agreement can be achieved," he said. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. Senate leaders aim to craft "fiscal cliff" bill by Sunday Friday, Dec 28, 2012 03:16 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate leaders are working to craft legislation by Sunday that averts the year-end "fiscal cliff" of tax hikes and spending cuts, but many details needed to be worked out after a crucial meeting with President Barack Obama on Friday. U.S. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid and his Republican counterpart Mitch McConnell, termed the meeting "constructive" and "positive" and said they would keep working on trying to find a solution over the weekend. After adjourning on Friday, Reid he would probably not call the Senate back into session until about 1 p.m. ... Full Story | Top |
| Alleged militants detained in Djibouti charged by U.S. court Friday, Dec 28, 2012 03:00 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a sign of evolving U.S. legal tactics in counter-terrorism operations, two Swedish citizens and a former British citizen detained in Africa in August have been charged in a U.S. court with supporting Somali-based Islamist militants. The charges were filed in Federal Court in Brooklyn, New York, even though court papers and a press release from the U.S. Attorney's office make no specific allegation that the three - all of whom are of Somali extraction - posed threats to Americans or U.S.-related targets. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan says president ready to meet Sudan's Bashir Friday, Dec 28, 2012 02:41 PM PST  JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan's President Salva Kiir is willing to meet his Sudanese counterpart Omar Hassan al-Bashir to sort out conflicts and resume vital oil flows, a South Sudanese minister said on Friday after Bashir agreed to hold a summit. The neighbors agreed in September to set up a demilitarized border zone and resume oil exports from landlocked South Sudan through Sudan. Oil is the lifeline of both economies. Neither country has yet withdrawn its army from either side of the border, a precondition to resume oil flows. ... Full Story | Top |
| "Fiscal cliff" impasse doesn't affect U.S. sovereign rating: S&P Friday, Dec 28, 2012 01:19 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said on Friday it does not expect U.S. lawmakers' negotiations over the "fiscal cliff" to have an impact on the sovereign credit ratings of the U.S. federal government. The credit ratings agency said it believes the same general conditions under which it downgraded the U.S. credit rating to AA-plus/A-1-plus from AAA in August 2011 continue to exist. S&P said the additional tax revenues and lower government spending that will come into force if no deal is reached to avert the fiscal cliff "would likely result in the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Monti says will lead centrists in Italian vote Friday, Dec 28, 2012 12:55 PM PST  ROME (Reuters) - Outgoing Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Friday he would lead a centrist alliance in an election in February, ending weeks of speculation over his political future and confirming his bid for a second term. The announcement clears up some of the uncertainty hanging over election and puts Monti in a three-way contest for power with the center-left Democratic Party (PD), which is leading in the polls, and Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL) party. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hunger strike pressures Canada PM, aboriginal protests spread Friday, Dec 28, 2012 12:18 PM PST  OTTAWA (Reuters) - A Canadian aboriginal chief in the third week of a hunger strike is urging Prime Minister Stephen Harper to "open his heart" and meet with native leaders angered by his policies as small impromptu protests spread beyond Canada's borders. Chief Theresa Spence from the remote northern Ontario community of Attawapiskat has been fasting since December 11 and has vowed to continue until Harper commits to talks on a litany of complaints, including new legislation that she says will harm native lands. "He's a person with a heart but he needs to open his heart. ... Full Story | Top |
| Would-be adoptive parents look beyond Russia Friday, Dec 28, 2012 12:16 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Russia's new ban on U.S. adoptions is the latest setback for hopeful American parents as countries increasingly impose restrictions. Other countries, including China and Guatemala, have erected hurdles for adoptive families as they create their own domestic adoption programs. The signing of the Hague Convention on adoption in 2008 drastically improved regulation of the process, which had been rife with corruption. But it has also led to a slowdown in adoptions or shutdowns in some countries. ... Full Story | Top |
| Putin signs ban on U.S. adoptions of Russian children Friday, Dec 28, 2012 11:52 AM PST  MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Friday that bans Americans from adopting Russian children and imposes other sanctions in retaliation for a new U.S. human rights law that he says is poisoning relations. Washington has called the new Russian law misguided, saying it ties the fate of children to "unrelated political considerations", and analysts say it is likely to deepen a chill in U.S.-Russia relations and harm Putin's image abroad. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt opposition says Islamists trying to stifle dissent Friday, Dec 28, 2012 11:18 AM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's opposition accused President Mohamed Mursi's Islamist allies of trying to muzzle dissent on Friday after prosecutors decided to investigate whether prominent government critics were guilty of sedition. The probe, which comes a month after Mursi replaced the chief prosecutor, further sours the political climate as the leader and his opponents face off over a new constitution that became law on Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Canadian job creation seen sharply lower in December Friday, Dec 28, 2012 10:50 AM PST OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's job market is expected to slow markedly in December to reflect the sluggish economy and employers' fears about the U.S. fiscal crisis following outsized gains of over 50,000 jobs in two of the previous three months. The median forecast in a Reuters poll is for the economy to add just 5,000 jobs in the month, with forecasts ranging from a loss of 20,000 positions to a gain of 21,000. The forecast compares with employment growth of 59,600 in November, 1,800 in October and 52,100 in September. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ghana's opposition asks top court to overturn poll results Friday, Dec 28, 2012 10:27 AM PST  ACCRA (Reuters) - Ghana's main opposition party on Friday asked the West African nation's top court to overturn the result of a December 7 presidential election won by incumbent President John Dramani Mahama over what the party's leader called irregularities. The poll, which passed peacefully despite technical problems that forced voting into a second day, was seen as a test of stability for one of Africa's most mature democracies and fastest growing economies. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ex-miners seek silicosis class action vs. South African firms Friday, Dec 28, 2012 10:21 AM PST  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A South African lawyer has moved to file a class action suit against more than 30 gold firms on behalf of 17,000 former miners who say they contracted the debilitating lung disease silicosis due to negligence in health and safety. The companies include third-largest global bullion producer AngloGold Ashanti, fourth-largest Gold Fields and Harmony Gold. Also named is Anglo American's South African unit, which owned gold assets in the past but no longer produces it. ... Full Story | Top |
| Magnitude 5.6 quake off Sulawesi, Indonesia Friday, Dec 28, 2012 10:01 AM PST LONDON (Reuters) - A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck Indonesia, off the island of Sulawesi, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It struck at a depth of 102 km (63 miles), 90 km south of Gorontalo, at 1:32 a.m. on Saturday (1732 GMT Friday). There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage to property. (Writing by Alison Williams; Editing by Jon Hemming) Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen kill five in Nigerian Islamist stronghold Friday, Dec 28, 2012 09:05 AM PST MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen killed five people in Nigeria on Friday, including a policeman, on the edge of the town of Maiduguri, a long-time stronghold of Islamist sect Boko Haram, the military said. Boko Haram, which is loosely based on the Afghan Taliban, has killed hundreds this year in a campaign to impose sharia, Islamic law, in Nigeria, a country of more than 160 million split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims. The sect is the biggest threat to stability in Africa's biggest oil exporter. "Five people have been killed by unidentified gunmen in Musari ... ... Full Story | Top |
| Iraqi Sunnis stage big anti-government rallies Friday, Dec 28, 2012 09:02 AM PST  RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters from Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority poured onto the streets after Friday prayers in a show of force against Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, keeping up a week-long blockade of a major highway. Around 60,000 people blocked the main road through Falluja, 50 km (30 miles) west of the capital, setting fire to the flag of Shi'ite Iran and shouting "out, out Iran! Baghdad stays free" and "Maliki you coward, don't take your advice from Iran". ... Full Story | Top |
| Residents flee Bangui as rebels pause for talks Friday, Dec 28, 2012 08:51 AM PST  BANGUI (Reuters) - Residents of Central African Republic's riverside capital Bangui fled in overloaded cars and boats on Friday or stockpiled food and water as rebel forces paused at the city gates for ceasefire talks. An insurgency has swept across much of the poverty-stricken but resource-rich former French colony since December 10, posing the biggest threat yet to President Francois Bozize's nearly 10 years in power and threatening a humanitarian crisis. ... Full Story | Top |
| Colombian president has urinary infection, at no risk Friday, Dec 28, 2012 08:50 AM PST  BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, who underwent cancer surgery in October, is suffering from a urinary infection but there is no risk to his overall health, his office said on Friday. Santos, who is at his official retreat in the coastal city of Cartagena, is able to continue with his daily agenda after a regular checkup, his doctor, Felipe Gomez, said in a statement sent by the president's office. "I was in a post operative checkup and now I am back to my normal routine," Santos, 61, said in a Twitter message. ... Full Story | Top |
| Brazil president, cancer survivor, pronounced healthy Friday, Dec 28, 2012 08:22 AM PST  BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who survived lymphoma cancer in 2009, was pronounced healthy by doctors after a routine exam on Friday. Rousseff's health was "within normal levels," according to a statement released by her office following the check-up at the Sirio-Libanes Hospital in Sao Paulo, one of South America's leading cancer treatment centers. Rousseff underwent chemotherapy in 2009 and briefly wore a wig, but the cancer went into remission and she appeared to be in good health by the time she staged her winning campaign for the presidency in 2010. ... Full Story | Top |
| Scores feared dead after boat sinks off Bissau Friday, Dec 28, 2012 08:15 AM PST BISSAU (Reuters) - Twenty-two people died and more than 75 were missing after an overloaded boat sank off the coast of Guinea-Bissau on Friday, hospital and port officials said. The narrow wooden boat was ferrying 97 passengers and their luggage to the West African nation's capital Bissau from the island of Bolama when it began taking on water and sank around 11 a.m. (1100 GMT), Bissau Port Director Mario Domingos Gomes said. Hospital sources said 22 bodies had arrived at the morgue in Bissau. ... Full Story | Top |
| Two al Qaeda suspects killed in Yemen drone strike-official Friday, Dec 28, 2012 07:43 AM PST  ADEN, Yemen (Reuters) - Two suspected al Qaeda-linked insurgents were killed in a drone strike in Yemen's eastern region of Hadramout on Friday, a local security official said. The two men were riding a motorcycle west of the coastal town of al-Sheher when the pilotless aircraft fired at them, the official told Reuters, declining to be named. He gave no further details of the identity of those killed. On Monday, at least five people were killed in two drone strikes in Yemen, one of them also in Hadramout, the first such attacks in several weeks. ... Full Story | Top |
| Berlusconi to pay 36 million euros a year divorce settlement: press Friday, Dec 28, 2012 06:30 AM PST  ROME (Reuters) - Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has agreed to pay his estranged wife Veronica Lario 100,000 euros ($132,200) a day as part of a divorce settlement, the daily Corriere della Sera said on Friday. The newspaper said the 36 million-euro-a-year settlement, reached after three years of negotiations, was filed with a court in Milan around Christmas. No comment was immediately available from the court or from lawyers for either Berlusconi or Lario following emailed and telephoned requests for confirmation. ... Full Story | Top |
| MSF warns Kenya not to send more refugees to stricken camp Friday, Dec 28, 2012 06:28 AM PST LONDON (Reuters) - Conditions in a camp for Somali refugees in Kenya are deplorable and a government plan to send in thousands more would pose a major risk to health, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Friday. Kenya has more than half a million refugees from Somalia, which has lacked an effective central government since the outbreak of civil war in 1991. A series of bombings, shootings and hand-grenade attacks blamed on Somali militants prompted the government on December 18 to stop registering asylum seekers and refugees in urban areas. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria opposition leader rejects Moscow invitation Friday, Dec 28, 2012 06:25 AM PST  ALEPPO PROVINCE, Syria/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's opposition leader has rejected an invitation from Russia for peace talks, dealing another blow to international hopes that diplomacy can be resurrected to end a 21-month civil war. Russia, President Bashar al-Assad's main international protector, said on Friday it had sent an invitation for a visit to Moaz Alkhatib, whose six-week-old National Coalition opposition group has been recognized by most Western and Arab states as the legitimate voice of the Syrian people. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's Mubarak to stay in army hospital as health worsens Friday, Dec 28, 2012 05:41 AM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's deposed leader Hosni Mubarak, who is serving a life sentence for his role in killing protesters during a 2011 revolt, will stay in an army hospital for at least two weeks after his health deteriorated, his lawyer said on Friday. The state of Mubarak's already fragile health has been the subject of intense speculation in Egypt and he has spent much of the time before and after his trial in various hospitals. On Thursday evening, the 84-year-old former leader was transferred to an army hospital from his prison clinic after fracturing a rib in a recent fall. ... Full Story | Top |
| After decades muzzling media, Myanmar to allow private dailies Friday, Dec 28, 2012 04:13 AM PST YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar will allow private daily newspapers from April next year, the government announced on Friday, a big leap forward for a country that had barely any press freedom under its decades of military dictatorship. Before the military seized power in a 1962 coup, there were more than a dozen local private dailies in multiple languages. At present, only state-controlled newspapers, mostly considered dull, propaganda-filled mouthpieces of the government, are allowed to publish on a daily basis. ... Full Story | Top |
| Spain doctors end strike over hospital privatization Friday, Dec 28, 2012 03:59 AM PST MADRID (Reuters) - Doctors in Spain's Madrid region called off a strike on Friday after failing to halt plans to privatize six hospitals and dozens of clinics. The Madrid regional government aims to save 200 million euros ($265 million) by putting the hospitals and clinics under private management. The region's elected assembly approved the plan on Thursday. Spain has implemented tough austerity measures this year to help it reach a European Union-agreed budget deficit target and stave off a bailout. The country's 17 autonomous regions control their own spending on healthcare and education. ... Full Story | Top |
| China tightens loophole on hiring temporary workers Friday, Dec 28, 2012 03:59 AM PST  BEIJING (Reuters) - China amended its labor law on Friday to ensure that workers hired through contracting agents are offered the same conditions as full employees, a move meant to tighten a loophole used by many employers to maintain flexible staffing. Contracting agencies have taken off since China implemented the Labor Contract Law in 2008, which stipulates employers must pay workers' health insurance and social security benefits and makes firing very difficult. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pakistan Taliban chief says group will negotiate, but not disarm Friday, Dec 28, 2012 03:38 AM PST  DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - The head of Pakistan's Taliban said his militia is willing to negotiate with the government but not disarm, a message delivered in a video given to Reuters on Friday. The release of the 40-minute video follows three high-profile Taliban attacks in the northern city of Peshawar this month: an attack by multiple suicide bombers on the airport, the killing of a senior politician and eight others in a bombing and the kidnap of 22 paramilitary forces on Thursday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Netanyahu set to win Israel election but rightists gain: polls Friday, Dec 28, 2012 03:27 AM PST  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party is set to win a parliamentary election on January 22 although the popularity of a far-right party opposed to Palestinian statehood is growing, polls showed on Friday. Two out of three surveys showed the right-wing Likud losing voters to political newcomer Naftali Bennett's religious party Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home)and to a fractured center-left bloc. All still predicted a strong right-wing coalition emerging in the 120-seat parliament, which would assure Netanyahu another term. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran starts navy drills in Strait of Hormuz: IRNA Friday, Dec 28, 2012 02:55 AM PST DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran started on Friday six days of naval drills in the Strait of Hormuz, the official IRNA news agency reported, maneuvers aimed at showcasing its military capabilities in what is a vital oil and gas shipping route. Naval commander Habibollah Sayyari said the "Velayat 91" drills would last until 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, IRNA said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Man shot dead as police clash with Shi'ites in Saudi Arabia Friday, Dec 28, 2012 02:54 AM PST RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabian police shot dead a Shi'ite protester in the country's oil-producing east late on Thursday, local activists said on Friday, bringing the death toll from clashes in the restive area to 12 this year. They said police had opened fire on protesters demonstrating about the detention of people from the Qatif district, killing 18-year-old Ali al-Marar and injuring six others. The authorities confirmed in a statement that a man had died but contradicted the activists' account, saying a security patrol had come under fire and shot back in self defense. ... Full Story | Top |
| New Japan PM to send envoys to South Korea amid territory dispute Friday, Dec 28, 2012 02:54 AM PST  SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) - New Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will send envoys to meet South Korean President-elect Park Geun-hye next month, a spokeswoman for Park said, a sign of Japan reaching out to its neighbor despite feuds over territory and wartime history. Japan's relations with South Korea frayed badly in August after outgoing President Lee Myung-bak visited a disputed set of islands known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in Korea. Koreans also harbor bitter resentment of Japanese rule from 1910 to 1945. ... Full Story | Top |
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