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U.S. lawmakers freeze $700 million to Pakistan as distrust grows
Mon,12 Dec 2011 11:16 PM PST
Reuters -  ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A crisis in relations looked set to deepen after a House-Senate negotiating panel agreed to freeze $700 million in aid to Pakistan until it gives assurances it is helping fight the spread of improvised explosive devices in the region. Pakistan is one of the largest recipients of U.S. foreign aid and the cutback announced is only a small proportion of the billions in civil and military assistance it gets each year. ...
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Al Qaeda posts photos of Europeans seized in Mali
Mon,12 Dec 2011 11:12 PM PST
Reuters - DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's North African wing posted on an Islamist website on Tuesday photographs of five Europeans kidnapped in Mali last month and attacked Mali over its military cooperation with France. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) last week claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of the five, two Frenchmen -- whom it described as French spies -- on one occasion and three other people from an undisclosed European country in a separate incident in the north of Mali a few days later. In the two images, the hostages are surrounded by masked men holding guns. ... Full Story | Top |
Al Qaeda posts photos of Europeans seized in Mali
Mon,12 Dec 2011 10:44 PM PST
Reuters - DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's North African wing posted photographs of five Europeans kidnapped last month in Mali on an Islamist website on Tuesday. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) last week claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of the five, two Frenchmen -- whom it described as French spies -- on one occasion and three other people from an undisclosed European country in a separate incident in the north of Mali a few days later. In two photographs the hostages are surrounded by masked men holding guns. Full Story | Top |
Tunisia installs former dissident as president
Mon,12 Dec 2011 10:42 PM PST
Reuters -  TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia on Monday installed as its new president a former dissident who was imprisoned and then exiled for opposing former President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, a new landmark in the country's post-revolutionary transition to democracy. Members of the constitutional assembly, Tunisia's interim parliament, voted to elect Moncef Marzouki as president, the second most powerful role after the prime minister. Marzouki, 66, is respected by many Tunisians for his implacable opposition to the autocratic Ben Ali. ...
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Ouattara coalition leads in Ivorian poll count
Mon,12 Dec 2011 10:36 PM PST
Reuters -  ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara's ruling coalition led in partial results from Sunday's legislative election, according to a small sample of preliminary results released on Monday. Ouattara's ruling coalition appears set for a landslide win based on voting patterns during the first round of last year's presidential polls. A sweeping win in the West African state's first parliamentary poll in a decade would strengthen Ouattara's hand governing a country fresh from a power-struggle that killed more than 3,000 people. ...
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China considers Seychelles port offer, denies base plan: report
Mon,12 Dec 2011 10:18 PM PST
Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - China will consider turning to the Seychelles as a resupply port for navy ships taking part in anti-piracy operations off Africa, official media said, rejecting suggestions that this would amount to a military base that could unsettle the region. Chinese ships have participated in a multi-nation campaign against pirates striking out from Somalia, and have used ports in Djibouti, Oman, and Yemen to take on supplies, according to the International Institute For Strategic Studies in London. ... Full Story | Top |
Gambia's Bensouda to counter ICC critics
Mon,12 Dec 2011 10:08 PM PST
Reuters - DAKAR (Reuters) - Fatou Bensouda, the first African to be named as chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, has little time for accusations that the Hague-based court has harboured bias against Africa during its nine-year history. The fact that all 14 of the court's current cases are from Africa is not evidence the ICC is unfairly targeting people on the continent, but on the contrary, proves it is working hard to protect them from their persecutors, she argues. "All of the victims in our cases in Africa are African victims. They are not from another continent. ... Full Story | Top |
IMF OKs final tranche to Mali, talks on new loan
Mon,12 Dec 2011 10:05 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund on Monday approved a final loan disbursement of $9.3 million for Mali, whose government is currently negotiating a successor IMF economic program. The new loan program for Mali, a largely desert country and Africa's third-largest gold miner, is expected to be finalized within the next few weeks. The country's economy was hard hit by conflicts in Ivory Coast and Libya this year. "The economic outlook is positive, although subject to downside risks," said Min Zhu, IMF deputy managing director said in a statement. ... Full Story | Top |
Timeline: Taiwan's road to democracy
Mon,12 Dec 2011 10:05 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - Taiwan will hold its fifth presidential election on January 14 since its transition to a full-fledged democracy from a martial law dictatorship. The poll pits incumbent the Nationalists' Ma Ying-jeou against the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party's Tsai Ing-wen, who is aiming to become Taiwan's first female president, and James Soong, leader of a Nationalist splinter party that favors close ties with China. ... Full Story | Top |
Factbox:Taiwan's presidential and legislative election processes
Mon,12 Dec 2011 10:03 PM PST
Reuters - The following is an outline of the process for Taiwan's presidential and legislative elections to be held simultaneously on Jan 14, 2012. PROCEDURE - Some 17 million Taiwan citizens are eligible to vote out of a population of 23 million. Voters must be aged 20 or older. - Polling stations are open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (0000 GMT to 0800 GMT). - The Central Election Commission is expected to announce final results by 8 p.m. (1200 GMT) on the day of the poll. Up-to-date voting tallies will be available on election night on the commission's website (http://web.cec.gov.tw). ... Full Story | Top |
Sonangol re-appoints Vicente as CEO for another term
Mon,12 Dec 2011 10:02 PM PST
Reuters - LISBON (Reuters) - Angola's government has appointed state oil company Sonangol CEO Manuel Vicente for another term, quashing media speculation that he may succeed President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, state news agency Angop reported on Monday. Angop quoted a government statement saying the decision to reappoint Vicente had been made at a cabinet meeting. ... Full Story | Top |
Taiwan president's economic boasts come back to haunt
Mon,12 Dec 2011 10:00 PM PST
Reuters - TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, fresh off an election victory in 2008, offered a vision of prosperity through closer ties with China: the economy would grow 6 percent per year, per capita income would reach $30,000 and unemployment would be 3 percent. Four years on and in a heated re-election campaign for the January 2012 presidential poll, voters are hearing a starkly different message, and tone, from the man who dramatically opened Taiwan's economy to political rival China and brought relations to their best in six decades: He needs more time. ... Full Story | Top |
Another school bus crash sparks fury in China
Mon,12 Dec 2011 08:50 PM 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 also injured in the accident, which happened after school on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
Lawmakers reach tentative deal to fund government
Mon,12 Dec 2011 08:27 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawmakers moved closer to a deal on Monday to fund the government through next year, potentially avoiding a shutdown that would have further damaged Congress' tattered reputation ahead of the 2012 election. The group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers tentatively agreed on how to fund a wide range of government functions from homeland security to protecting the environment, congressional aides said. ...
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Syria death toll exceeds 5,000: U.N. rights chief
Mon,12 Dec 2011 08:01 PM PST
Reuters -  AMMAN (Reuters) - More than 5,000 people have been killed in nine months of unrest in Syria, the U.N. human rights chief said, as an insurgency begins to overshadow what had been mostly peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad. The latest figure reported to the U.N. Security Council by Navi Pillay is 1,000 higher than the one she announced just 10 days ago. The toll includes civilians, army defectors and those executed for refusing to shoot civilians, but not soldiers and other security personnel killed by opposition forces, she said. ...
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Japan urges EU to make more convincing efforts
Mon,12 Dec 2011 07:26 PM PST
Reuters - TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi on Tuesday urged Europe to make further efforts to convince markets of its resolve to overcome the region's debt crisis and expressed caution about any potential Japan contribution to a rescue fund through the IMF. Azumi said Japan would cooperate where it can but only after Europe comes up with a thorough scheme and resources needed to build a fire wall and prevent contagion of the debt crisis. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. to mothball gear to build top F-22 fighter
Mon,12 Dec 2011 07:18 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Even as the last F-22 fighter jet rolls out of flag-draped doors at a Lockheed Martin Corp assembly plant on Tuesday, the Air Force has taken steps that leave open an option to restart the premier plane's production relatively cheaply. The Air Force is preserving the hardware used to build the jet, not scrapping it, although it insists this is solely to sustain the fleet over its projected 30-plus years' "lifecycle. ... Full Story | Top |
Profile: Belgium's Central Bank Governor Luc Coene
Mon,12 Dec 2011 07:15 PM PST
Reuters - Position: Belgian Central Bank Governor Incumbent: Luc Coene Date of birth: March 11, 1947 Term: Has been in office since April 2011, replacing Guy Quaden, who had served for 12 years. Key Facts: - Coene was a senator with the pro-free market Flemish liberal (Open VLD) party and a member of Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt's cabinet until he moved to the central bank as deputy governor in 2003. - Coene has called for a reform of Belgium's system of indexation, under which salaries, rents and prices for a wide range of items, from energy to tram tickets, are adjusted in line with inflation. ... Full Story | Top |
Japan likely to pick F-35 fighter this week: media
Mon,12 Dec 2011 07:14 PM PST
Reuters -  TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is likely to pick Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jets to replace its ageing fleet of F-4 Phantom fighters, reaffirming strong security ties with the United States, Japanese media reported on Tuesday. The government will choose between two U.S. models -- the F-35 and the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet -- and Europe's four-nation Eurofighter Typhoon, at a meeting of the national security council on Friday, the Nikkei business daily said. ...
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USTR faults China WTO record in 1Oth annual report
Mon,12 Dec 2011 06:48 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ten years after joining the World Trade Organization, China still does not fully embrace many fundamental free market principles of the global trade body, the U.S. Trade Representative's office said on Monday in an annual report to Congress. "In 2011, the prevalence of interventionist policies and practices, coupled with the large role of state-owned enterprises in China's economy, continued to generate significant concerns among U.S. stakeholders," the USTR said. ... Full Story | Top |
Congress moves ahead with new detainee rules
Mon,12 Dec 2011 06:46 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress sought to avoid a showdown with the White House over detainee policy in the war against al Qaeda on Monday, with a panel approving new rules for handling terrorism suspects after adding changes wanted by the administration. Leaders from the House and Senate Armed Services Committees said they were not certain the changes they included in the National Defense Authorization Act would be enough to avert a threatened veto by President Barack Obama, but they said they hoped they had addressed his concerns. ... Full Story | Top |
House-Senate panel agrees new sanctions on Iran
Mon,12 Dec 2011 06:29 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leaders of a U.S. House and Senate negotiating panel on Monday said they had agreed to compromise legislation imposing new sanctions that target Iran's central bank, despite Obama administration misgivings over the measure. They said they hoped to pass it this week. The lawmakers, the leaders of armed services committees from both political parties, said they had made some changes sought by the administration. These added some flexibility in the treatment of foreign institutions that trade with Iran's central bank, Democratic Senator Carl Levin said. ... Full Story | Top |
Canada first nation to pull out of Kyoto protocol
Mon,12 Dec 2011 06:27 PM PST
Reuters -  OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada on Monday became the first country to announce it would withdraw from the Kyoto protocol on climate change, dealing a symbolic blow to the already troubled global treaty. Environment Minister Peter Kent broke the news on his return from talks in Durban, where countries agreed to extend Kyoto for five years and hammer out a new deal forcing all big polluters for the first time to limit greenhouse gas emissions. ...
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Papua New Guinea awakes to two prime ministers, calls for calm
Mon,12 Dec 2011 06:23 PM PST
Reuters - s PORT MORESBY (Reuters) - Papua New Guinea was in a political deadlock on Tuesday with two prime ministers claiming the right to govern the resource-rich South Pacific nation, prompting calls for calm in the capital Port Moresby. PNG's Supreme Court on Monday night ruled the government led by Peter O'Neill illegal and ordered Sir Michael Somare, toppled while receiving medical treatment in Singapore, be reinstated as prime minister. ... Full Story | Top |
Senate confirms one ambassador, blocks another
Mon,12 Dec 2011 06:05 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. ambassadors on the verge of being forced to return home met opposite outcomes on Monday, as the Senate voted to block one and allow the other to continue serving in his post. President Barack Obama's nominee for U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, Mari Carmen Aponte, fell 11 votes short of the 60 she needed to break through Republican opposition. The nominee for U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic, Norman Eisen, succeeded in a similar procedural vote, 70-16. ...
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White House says supports embattled nuclear regulator
Mon,12 Dec 2011 05:54 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House has confidence in the embattled chairman of the nuclear safety regulator, and the top officials at the agency continue to do their jobs despite a bitter internal dispute, William Daley, chief of staff to President Barack Obama, said on Monday. Daley expressed his support in a letter to Gregory Jaczko, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the four commissioners at the agency, who had complained Jaczko had created a hostile work environment. ... Full Story | Top |
Gloves stay on in Gingrich-Huntsman N.H. debate
Mon,12 Dec 2011 07:30 PM PST
Reuters -  MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (Reuters) - The gloves didn't have to come off on Monday night in a Lincoln-Douglas style debate between Republican rivals Newt Gingrich and Jon Huntsman, who found more agreement than strife on foreign policy issues. The debate pitted the current Republican front-runner against the former Utah governor who is trailing in the dead-last zone among the pack of candidates running to challenge Democratic President Barack Obama in November 2012. ...
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Brazil's Lula is beating cancer, doctors say
Mon,12 Dec 2011 05:41 PM PST
Reuters -  SAO PAULO (Reuters) - A 75 percent reduction in the size of a tumor in former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's throat has surprised his doctors and could put the popular showman back on the active political roster as early as March. The medical team treating Lula at the Hospital Sirio-Libanes said they were "impressed" with his recovery, as the 66-year-old former union boss started his third and final round of chemotheropy on Monday. ...
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China school bus crash kills at least 15 children: report
Mon,12 Dec 2011 05:26 PM PST
Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - At least 15 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 traffic accidents that has drawn public ire across the country. The bus fell into a ditch following a failed attempt to veer off the road to avoid a pedicab, Xinhua news agency said. At least eight children were injured in the accident, which happened in the early evening on Monday. Xinhua had conflicting accounts on the number of children on board the bus but all reports suggested the bus was not overloaded. ... Full Story | Top |
Republican Keystone, tax cut bill expect to pass on Tuesday
Mon,12 Dec 2011 05:00 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Republican bid to force President Barack Obama to speed up approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline project looked set to pass the House of Representatives on Tuesday but will likely stall in the Democratic-controlled Senate, aides said. Republicans have linked the proposed Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline to President Barack Obama's efforts to extend a payroll tax cut for workers. Some economists warn that allowing the tax cut to expire could damage a fragile U.S. economic recovery. ...
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Congress cannot accelerate Keystone decision: State Department
Mon,12 Dec 2011 04:59 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department warned on Monday that a plan by congressional Republicans to fast track the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL pipeline decision would violate environmental laws and force it to withhold approval. "Should Congress impose an arbitrary deadline for the permit decision ... the department would be unable to make a determination to issue a permit for this project," the State Department said in a statement. ... Full Story | Top |
Candidate Gingrich vows fidelity to wife
Mon,12 Dec 2011 04:45 PM PST
Reuters -  DES MOINES (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich pledged on Monday to remain faithful to his third wife, fighting back against rivals who have raised his past infidelity as an issue. Gingrich made the vow on a day his poll numbers in Iowa declined slightly, although he still has a substantial lead with three weeks to go before Iowa holds the first U.S. presidential nominating contest of the 2012 election year. ...
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U.N. rights chief Pillay says Syria toll over 5,000
Mon,12 Dec 2011 04:38 PM PST
Reuters - UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The death toll in Syria's nine-month crackdown on an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad has now passed 5,000, United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay told the Security Council on Monday. The figure represents a sharp increase over the more than 4,000 that she cited just 10 days ago. "Today I have reported that the figure exceeds 5,000," Pillay told reporters after briefing the council in closed session on what she called the "intolerable situation" in Syria. ... Full Story | Top |
Police unsure of tabloid role in key UK hacking case
Mon,12 Dec 2011 04:34 PM PST
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - British police said on Monday there was no evidence that journalists from Rupert Murdoch's News of the World tabloid had deleted a murdered schoolgirl's mobile phone messages, a claim that led to public revulsion and the closure of the paper. It was a report last July that the paper's journalists had deleted voicemails on the phone of Milly Dowler in 2002, giving her parents false hope she was still alive, that lit a fire under a simmering scandal over phone hacking. ... Full Story | Top |
Factbox: Payroll tax cut areas of compromise
Mon,12 Dec 2011 04:33 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - Lawmakers are trying to clinch a deal extending a popular payroll tax cut, working against a year-end deadline to avoid imposing an effective tax hike on 160 million Americans. While Republican leaders agree with Democrats on the need to extend the tax cut, they disagree on how to fund the $120 billion cost. Below are areas of contention and potential compromise. KEYSTONE PIPELINE The biggest bargaining chip for Republicans is their proposal to speed approval of TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL pipeline project between the United States and Canada. ... Full Story | Top |
Medtronic settles U.S. probe over doctor kickbacks
Mon,12 Dec 2011 04:23 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Medtronic Inc has agreed to pay $23.5 million to settle allegations that it paid kickbacks to doctors to encourage them to use its pacemakers and defibrillators, the U.S. Justice Department said on Monday. The company was accused of seeking physicians to participate in studies and registries and paying doctors fees of between $1,000 to $2,000 per patient for information and data collected as long as they used Medtronic's devices, according to the Justice Department. ... Full Story | Top |
Gingrich, Romney turn up the heat in New Hampshire
Mon,12 Dec 2011 03:53 PM PST
Reuters -  HOLLIS, New Hampshire (Reuters) - The tense campaign between Republican presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney heated up further on Monday in New Hampshire, where Romney's lead in opinion polls has shrunk in recent weeks. The frontrunners for the 2012 Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Barack Obama campaigned near to each other in the Manchester area. Their biting remarks about one another reflected how New Hampshire - long seen as a lock for Romney, a former Massachusetts governor - now has the look of a competitive primary. ...
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More than 9 million in Sahel face food crisis: Oxfam
Mon,12 Dec 2011 03:49 PM PST
Reuters - DAKAR (Reuters) - More than nine million people in five countries in Africa's Sahel region face food crisis next year, following low rainfall, poor harvests, high food prices and a drop in remittances from migrants, aid agency Oxfam said on Monday. People in Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Chad, are at particularly high risk, with national food reserves dangerously low and prices of some key cereals as much as 40 percent higher than the five-year average. ... Full Story | Top |
Mexico's navy captures Zetas leader "El Lucky"
Mon,12 Dec 2011 03:38 PM PST
Reuters - MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's navy captured a leader of the Zetas drug cartel, Raul Fernandez, President Felipe Calderon said on Monday via his Twitter account. Fernandez, who is also known as "El Lucky" (The Lucky One), had a bounty of 15 million pesos ($1.09 million) on his head, operated in the Gulf state of Veracruz as well as the central state of Puebla and Oaxaca state in the south, Calderon said. ... Full Story | Top |
Obama says U.S. will be loyal partner for Iraq
Mon,12 Dec 2011 03:37 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With Iranian influence and Syria's instability looming over Iraq as U.S. troops pack up to go, President Barack Obama assured Baghdad on Monday the United States would remain a strong partner beyond the withdrawal. The removal of almost all U.S. forces from Iraq by December 31 has created uncertainty at a time when the region remains roiled by the Arab Spring, and amid fear that a bloody anti-government revolt in Syria could spread sectarian strife into neighboring Iraq. ...
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