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| U.S. heading off 'fiscal cliff' despite Senate efforts Monday, Dec 31, 2012 08:04 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States was headed over the "fiscal cliff" - at least temporarily - at midnight on Monday as time was running out for lawmakers to back a last-minute deal between the White House and Senate leaders to avert severe tax increases and spending cuts. After months of fruitless argument between Republicans and Democrats, the White House and Senate reached an agreement that would delay harsh spending cuts by two months, administration sources said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Top Afghan negotiator cautiously optimistic on peace prospects Monday, Dec 31, 2012 07:53 PM PST  KABUL (Reuters) - One of Afghanistan's top peace negotiators said he was cautiously optimistic about prospects for reconciliation with the Taliban and that all sides now realized a military solution to the war was not possible. Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai also told Reuters that the Kabul government hoped to transform the Afghan Taliban into a political movement. He predicted the highly lethal Haqqani militant network would join the peace process if the Afghan Taliban started formal talks. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. chief names East Timor's Ramos-Horta envoy to Guinea-Bissau Monday, Dec 31, 2012 06:49 PM PST  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday named Nobel Peace prize laureate and former president of East Timor, Jose Ramos-Horta, as his special representative to Guinea-Bissau, a West African nation that has become a narcotics hub. Ramos-Horta will assume the post once the current envoy in Guinea-Bissau, Joseph Mutaboba of Rwanda, completes his term on January 31, 2013, the United Nations said in a statement. ... Full Story | Top |
| North Korean leader, in rare address, seeks end to confrontation with South Monday, Dec 31, 2012 06:41 PM PST  SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for an end to confrontation between the two Koreas, technically still at war in the absence of a peace treaty to end their 1950-53 conflict, in a surprise New Year speech broadcast on state media. The address by Kim, who took over power in the reclusive state after his father, Kim Jong-il, died in 2011, appeared to take the place of the policy-setting New Year editorial published in leading state newspapers. ... Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela's Chavez in stable condition, says son-in-law Monday, Dec 31, 2012 06:34 PM PST  CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is in stable condition and spent Monday with his daughters, the cancer-stricken leader's son in law said in an appeal for supporters to ignore rumors about his condition. Chavez has not been seen in public nor heard from in more than three weeks. The vice president said on Sunday that the 58-year-old was suffering a third set of complications after surgery in Cuba on December 11, his fourth operation in 18 months. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sour end to 2012 masks positive trends in America Monday, Dec 31, 2012 05:53 PM PST  CHICAGO (Reuters) - Many Americans seem to be in a sour mood as 2013 begins, after Hurricane Sandy ravaged parts of the East Coast, a gunman massacred 20 school children in Connecticut and a long, contentious election campaign was followed by failure to resolve the "fiscal cliff" issue by year-end. Americans have not been very optimistic since the Great Recession of 2008-2009, but the gloom had begun to lift this year until the blast of bad news as 2012 ended, IPSOS pollster Cliff Young said on Monday. IPSOS polling showed that some angst set in as the year ended. ... Full Story | Top |
| Central African Republic rebels say split over peace talks offer Monday, Dec 31, 2012 05:26 PM PST  BANGUI (Reuters) - Rebels in Central African Republic are split over whether to start peace talks with President Francois Bozize or carry on an assault to overthrow him, a spokesman said on Monday, leaving efforts to end the conflict hanging in the balance. The Seleka insurgents had advanced to within 75 km (45 miles) of the mineral-rich country's capital Bangui and threatened to seize the city - until Bozize made a last ditch offer on Sunday to hold talks and share power with them. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rebel groups hit with U.N. sanctions over eastern Congo Monday, Dec 31, 2012 04:09 PM PST  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A U.N. Security Council sanctions committee on Monday blacklisted two rebel groups that have been responsible for war crimes in conflict-ravaged eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Nations said in a statement. The United States and Britain praised the move, with Washington suggesting further sanctions may be imposed against anyone who continues to cause trouble in eastern Congo. One of the groups added to the blacklist is the so-called M23, a Congolese rebel faction led by Bosco Ntaganda, a warlord indicted by the International Criminal Court. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israeli held for sneaking into Egypt Monday, Dec 31, 2012 03:54 PM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt on Monday said it had detained an Israeli army officer in the Taba region of the Sinai peninsula for sneaking through the border, but his mother and Israeli media said he was a civilian pro-Palestinian activist. The Egyptian state news agency MENA said the man was a Tel Aviv resident of Russian origin who was not carrying a passport, and that his name had not been on tourist arrival lists. An Egyptian state security officer said the man was an army officer who had been detained on Saturday and was still being interrogated. ... Full Story | Top |
| "Fiscal cliff" tumble looms despite Senate efforts Monday, Dec 31, 2012 03:36 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States was on track to tumble over the "fiscal cliff" at midnight on Monday, at least for a day, as lawmakers held back from supporting an eleventh-hour plan from Senate leaders to avert severe tax increases and spending cuts. The U.S. House of Representatives looked unlikely to vote on a Senate "fiscal cliff" plan before midnight, possibly pushing a legislative decision into New Year's Day, when financial markets will be closed. The plan was heavy on tax increases and light on spending cuts, which was unlikely to appeal to Republicans in the House. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rwanda vows to help on Congo at U.N., assails "blame game" Monday, Dec 31, 2012 01:02 PM PST UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Rwanda warned on Monday it will not tolerate attempts to blame it for a rebel insurgency in eastern Congo but vowed to use its two-year U.N. Security Council stint to help put an end to the conflict that has destabilized its much larger neighbor. Rwanda - along with Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg and South Korea - was elected in October as a temporary member of the 15-nation U.N. Security Council for 2013-14. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt detains Israeli army officer in Sinai Monday, Dec 31, 2012 12:48 PM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian security forces have detained an Israeli army officer in the Taba region of the Sinai peninsula after he snuck through a border crossing and took photographs of security property and talked to drivers, security sources said. "The Israeli officer was arrested by national security forces on December 29. State security is now interrogating him," a national state security officer told Reuters. The state news agency MENA said the arrested man is a Tel Aviv resident of Russian origin named Andrea Chetekov. ... Full Story | Top |
| Monti aims for Italy vote majority, pro-Europe alliance Monday, Dec 31, 2012 12:30 PM PST  ROME (Reuters) - Outgoing Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Monday he was aiming to win a majority in a parliamentary election in February and would seek alliances with parties agreeing with his pro-Europe agenda. While not explicitly saying so, Monti appeared to indicate he was open to an alliance with the centre left - led by Pier Luigi Bersani, who polls say is on track to win the election - although not until after the vote. The statement came a day after Bersani pressured Monti to choose sides. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bombs kill 23 across Iraq as sectarian strife grows Monday, Dec 31, 2012 12:29 PM PST  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 23 people were killed and 87 wounded in attacks across Iraq on Monday, police said, underlining sectarian and ethnic divisions that threaten to further destabilize the country a year after U.S. troops left. Tensions between Shi'ite, Kurdish and Sunni factions in Iraq's power-sharing government have been on the rise this year. Militants strike almost daily and have staged at least one big attack a month. The latest violence followed more than a week of protests against Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki by thousands of people from the minority Sunni community. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkey discussing disarmament with Kurdish leader: aide Monday, Dec 31, 2012 12:02 PM PST ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey has begun discussing disarmament with Kurdish militants after concluding that it is unlikely to defeat them militarily, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's chief adviser said on Monday. The government has been in talks in recent months with Abdullah Ocalan, jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), to end a hunger strike by jailed PKK members, but Monday's comment was the first confirmation that attempts to negotiate a wider peace settlement were on the agenda. "The main aim for the government is to disarm them. ... Full Story | Top |
| CAR rebels say split over peace talks offer Monday, Dec 31, 2012 11:59 AM PST  BANGUI (Reuters) - Rebels in Central African Republic are split over whether to start peace talks with President Francois Bozize or carry on an assault to overthrow him, a spokesman said on Monday, leaving efforts to end the conflict hanging in the balance. The Seleka insurgents had advanced to within 75 km (45 miles) of the mineral-rich country's capital Bangui and threatened to seize the city - until Bozize made a last ditch offer on Sunday to hold talks and share power with them. ... Full Story | Top |
| State Department made "grievous mistake" over Benghazi: Senate report Monday, Dec 31, 2012 10:23 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department made a "grievous mistake" in keeping the U.S. mission in Benghazi open despite inadequate security and increasingly alarming threat assessments in the weeks before a deadly attack by militants, a Senate committee said on Monday. A report from the Senate Homeland Security Committee on the September 11 attacks on the U.S. mission and a nearby CIA annex, in which the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans died, faulted intelligence agencies for not focusing tightly enough on Libyan extremists. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's leader sees currency stabilizing "within days" Monday, Dec 31, 2012 10:12 AM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's pound fell to a record low on Monday as the president signaled his government would allow it to depreciate slowly for several more days to stop a drain on foreign reserves that has driven the economy into crisis since the fall of Hosni Mubarak. Hit by a new bout of political turmoil in the last month, the pound had weakened to a record low on Sunday at a new dollar auction brought in by the central bank. It fell further at a second auction on Monday, last trading at 6.37 to the dollar on the interbank market. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pakistan releases more Afghan Taliban members: official Monday, Dec 31, 2012 10:03 AM PST ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan has freed four Afghan Taliban prisoners, including a former justice minister, a Pakistani government official said on Monday, in the newest sign Islamabad is serious about backing peace efforts in Afghanistan. Regional power Pakistan is seen as critical to the success of U.S. and Afghan efforts to bring stability to the country, a task gaining urgency as the end of the U.S. combat mission in 2014 draws closer. Afghanistan has been pressing the strategic U.S. ally to free Taliban members who could help promote reconciliation. ... Full Story | Top |
| In Indian student's gang rape, murder, two worlds collide Monday, Dec 31, 2012 09:32 AM PST  NEW DELHI (Reuters) - One of hundreds of attacks reported in New Delhi each year, the gang rape and murder of a medical student caught Indian authorities and political parties flat-footed, slow to see that the assault on a private bus had come to symbolize an epidemic of crime against women. ... Full Story | Top |
| Assad's forces battle to retake Damascus suburb Monday, Dec 31, 2012 09:31 AM PST  AMMAN (Reuters) - Elite Syrian government troops backed by tanks battled on Monday to recapture a strategic Damascus suburb from rebels who have advanced within striking distance of the center of Syria's capital. Five people, including a child, died from army rocket fire that hit the Daraya suburb during the fighting, opposition activists said. Daraya is part of a semi-circle of Sunni Muslim suburbs south of the capital that have been at the forefront of the 21-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. "This is the biggest attack on Daraya in two months. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Venezuela's Maduro channels Chavez, lacks his charisma Monday, Dec 31, 2012 09:12 AM PST  CARACAS (Reuters) - He uses Hugo Chavez's bombastic language, brandishes the constitution and showers opponents with vitriol at every turn. But Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro is struggling to replicate the extraordinary charisma of his boss, who is battling to recover from cancer surgery in Cuba. Named as heir apparent by Chavez just before the president returned to Havana for his fourth surgery in December, the 50-year-old former bus driver has become the face of the socialist government in South America's top oil exporter. ... Full Story | Top |
| 2012 one of "bloodiest years" for journalists: media body Monday, Dec 31, 2012 08:44 AM PST  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A heavy death toll in war zones such as Syria and Somalia made 2012 one of the bloodiest years for journalists, with 121 killed, an international journalists' group said on Monday. The Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said the figure was up from 107 journalists and other media workers killed in targeted attacks, bomb blasts and cross-fire incidents in 2011. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian activists detained at protest for free assembly Monday, Dec 31, 2012 08:41 AM PST  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian police detained a prominent opposition figure and several other people holding unauthorized protests in Moscow and St Petersburg on Monday to defend the right to assembly. Police grabbed Eduard Limonov, a leader of the Other Russia opposition movement, as he spoke to journalists shortly after arriving with a few dozen activists in Moscow's Triumph Square. Under a brisk snowfall, demonstrators chanted "Russia without Putin!" and slogans calling for the right to free assembly, as Muscovites shopped for the New Year holiday in the capital's main street nearby. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sudan closes think-tank after protest: director Monday, Dec 31, 2012 08:21 AM PST KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan shut down a leading pro-democracy think-tank on Monday, a day after the organization helped stage a protest against government crackdowns on campaigners, its director said. The Al-Khatim Adlan Center for Enlightenment and Human Development (KACE) was one of a number of bodies that tried to deliver a petition to the country's human rights commission on Sunday. Police armed with batons blocked their way and, on Monday, a government official told the organization its operating license had been withdrawn, director Bakr Afif told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Afghan Taliban freed in Pakistan close to Mullah Omar: official Monday, Dec 31, 2012 07:58 AM PST KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan Taliban figures freed from detention in Pakistan were close to the movement's reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, and could help the Kabul government with peace efforts, a senior Afghan official said on Monday. "Their release will certainly have a positive impact on the mindsets of other senior Taliban, especially on field commanders who took orders from them for years," the official who is close to reconciliation efforts, told Reuters. (Reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Alison Williams) Full Story | Top |
| U.N. expert condemns move to oust Sri Lanka's chief justice Monday, Dec 31, 2012 07:37 AM PST  GENEVA (Reuters) - A United Nations expert on Monday criticized Sri Lanka's move to impeach its chief justice, saying it was part of a pattern of attacks on lawyers and a bid to stop judges carrying out their work independently of politicians. Parliament could vote next month to impeach Shirani Bandaranayake, the first woman to head Sri Lanka's Supreme Court, after she was found guilty by a parliamentary panel of financial irregularities and a failure to declare assets. The case risks a destabilizing clash between President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government and the judiciary. ... Full Story | Top |
| Desperate for weapons, Syrian rebels make their own, fix tanks Monday, Dec 31, 2012 07:35 AM PST ALEPPO PROVINCE, Syria (Reuters) - At a converted warehouse in the midst of a block of residential homes in a northern Syrian town, men are hard at work at giant lathes, shavings of metal gathering around them. Sacks of potassium nitrate and sugar lie nearby. In a neat row against the wall is the finished product, homemade mortars. Syrian rebels say they have been forced to make them because their calls for heavy weapons and ammunition to fight President Bashar al-Assad have gone unanswered. "No one's giving us any support. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan releases Chinese caught illegally fishing Monday, Dec 31, 2012 07:22 AM PST BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese fishermen detained for illegal fishing in Japan's waters were released Monday after promising to pay a 4.28 million yen ($49,700) fine, China's state news agency Xinhua said, citing the consulate general in Japan's southwestern city of Fukuoka. Xinhua said the detention of the three fishermen for unauthorized coral fishing within Japanese waters was "peacefully resolved" within 48 hours. The detention comes as tensions simmer between China and Japan over ownership of disputed islands near Taiwan, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kosovo struggles to shake Wild West image among investors Monday, Dec 31, 2012 06:07 AM PST  ASTRAZUB, Kosovo (Reuters) - When Briton Christopher Gilbert and London-educated Etrur Albani teamed up to dig marble in Albani's native Kosovo, they knew they were taking a gamble. For two years, Albani and Gilbert, who was better known in Britain as an entertainment industry entrepreneur, knocked on literally hundreds of doors in search of intrepid investors. They eventually turned up 12, convincing them that the risk associated with investing in this young Balkan nation was overblown and that the image of crime and corruption did not match the reality. ... Full Story | Top |
| Portugal president signs 2013 budget into law: TSF Monday, Dec 31, 2012 04:50 AM PST  LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's president has signed into law a 2013 budget that includes the biggest tax hikes in living memory but will ask the constitutional court to check its legality, private radio station TSF reported on Monday. The president's move at least allows the budget to take effect as of January 1. However, far-left political parties have said they would challenge the tax plans in the courts and political analysts have said the increases in the tax burden could be unconstitutional. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkey accuses EU of bigotry, says its reforms are ignored Monday, Dec 31, 2012 04:26 AM PST  ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey accused the European Union of bias and bigoted attitudes towards the EU candidate country on Monday and blamed it for undermining the Turkish public's trust in the bloc. Turkey criticized the European Commission's latest report on its progress towards EU membership as it presented for the first time its own report highlighting its reforms over the last year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israeli Supreme Court shortens whistleblower's prison term Monday, Dec 31, 2012 04:17 AM PST  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's Supreme Court on Monday shortened by a year the 4-1/2-year prison term of a soldier who gave a journalist classified military documents, some relating to operations against Palestinian militants. Ruling on Anat Kamm's appeal against the length of her sentence, the court said it was disproportionate to the penalty of four months of community service imposed on Uri Blau, a reporter for Haaretz, an Israeli left-wing daily. ... Full Story | Top |
| Chinese dissidents in rare visit to Nobel laureate's wife Monday, Dec 31, 2012 04:12 AM PST  BEIJING (Reuters) - A small group of Chinese dissidents forced their way past security guards last week to visit the detained wife of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo and deliver a message of support, one of the dissidents said on Monday. Liu, a veteran dissident involved in the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests crushed by the Chinese army, won the prize in 2010. He was jailed the year before and is serving an 11-year sentence. His wife Liu Xia is under house arrest. She is rarely allowed out and is almost never allowed to receive visitors. ... Full Story | Top |
| Assad's forces push to retake Damascus suburb Monday, Dec 31, 2012 03:51 AM PST  AMMAN (Reuters) - Heavy fighting raged on the outskirts of Damascus on Monday as elite troops backed by tanks tried to recapture a strategic suburb from rebels in one of the largest military operations in that district in months, opposition activists said. Five people, including one child, died from army rocket fire that hit Daraya, the activists said. Daraya is one of a series of interconnected Sunni Muslim suburbs that ring Syria's capital and have been at the forefront of the 21-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. "This is the biggest attack on Daraya in two months. ... Full Story | Top |
| Al Qaeda in Yemen offers bounty for U.S. ambassador Monday, Dec 31, 2012 02:50 AM PST  DUBAI (Reuters) - The Yemen-based branch of al Qaeda has offered a bounty for anyone who kills the U.S. ambassador to Yemen or an American soldier in the impoverished Arab state, a group that monitors Islamist websites said. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) said it was offering three kilograms of gold for the killing of the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa, Gerald Feierstein, the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group said, citing an audio released by militants. AQAP will also pay 5 million rials ($23,350) to whoever kills any American soldier in Yemen, it said. ... Full Story | Top |
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