Today's Reuters News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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Insight: FDA warned PIP on implant safety in 2000
Mon,26 Dec 2011 09:32 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As early as 2000, U.S. health authorities raised concerns about the French breast implant maker at the heart of a scandal affecting hundreds of thousands of women worldwide. That was almost ten years before the company came under scrutiny from European regulators. The Food and Drug Administration sent an investigator to inspect a plant run by the manufacturer, Poly Implant Prothese (PIP), at La Seyne Sur Mer in southeastern France in May 2000. ...
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U.S. stores hope "Mega Monday" led to brisk sales
Mon,26 Dec 2011 03:53 PM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Shoppers found a mixed bag of bargains and so-so deals on Monday, as a day off for many Americans lured some out for what was likely to be the third-busiest shopping day of the holiday season. Chains were also hoping that shoppers coming in to redeem the millions of gift cards given as presents might be willing to spend a bit more cash of their own. Many retailers were still relying on bargains to entice shoppers on the day after Christmas. ...
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Arab League monitors on their way to Syria's Homs: report
Mon,26 Dec 2011 11:22 PM PST
Reuters -  CAIRO (Reuters) - Arab League peace monitors are on their way to the Syrian city of Homs, Egypt's state TV said on Tuesday, quoting the head of the mission. Activists say at least 31 people were killed on Monday in the city, which has been under heavy attack in recent days by government troops and tanks trying to put down a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. ...
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Audit panel: no violations in Olympus handover
Mon,26 Dec 2011 11:30 PM PST
Reuters -  TOKYO (Reuters) - A panel reviewing the auditing of Olympus Corp after its $1.7 billion accounting scandal said it had so far not found any wrongdoing by the Japanese arm of Ernst & Young and questioned the accuracy of a separate investigation critical of auditors. But the panel, set up by Ernst & Young ShinNihon LLC earlier this month, acknowledged that its powers of investigation were limited. The hurdles include an inability to question prior auditor, KMPG AZSA LLC, which does not want to participate in a competitor's probe. ...
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Exclusive: Afghanistan sets ground rules for Taliban
Mon,26 Dec 2011 02:03 PM PST
Reuters -  KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan will accept a Taliban liaison office in Qatar to start peace talks but no foreign power can get involved in the process without its consent, the government's peace council said, as efforts gather pace to find a solution to the decade-long war. Afghanistan's High Peace Council, in a note to foreign missions, has set out ground rules for engaging the Taliban after Kabul grew concerned that the United States and Qatar, helped by Germany, had secretly agreed with the Taliban to open an office in the Qatari capital, Doha. U.S. ...
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Sadr bloc calls for early elections in Iraq
Mon,26 Dec 2011 02:44 PM PST
Reuters -  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The head of the political bloc of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called on Monday for new elections in Iraq after the biggest crisis in a year saw Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki move against two senior Sunni rivals. Tensions are rising after Maliki, a Shi'ite, sought the arrest of Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi - accused of running death squads. Maliki also asked parliament to fire Sunni Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq. ...
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Tepco seeks $9 billion more for Fukushima compensation
Mon,26 Dec 2011 07:57 PM PST
Reuters -  TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo Electric Power Co asked a government-backed bailout body on Tuesday for an additional 690 billion yen ($8.8 billion) to help compensate victims of the nuclear crisis at its Fukushima Daiichi power plant. To help Japan's biggest utility, known as Tepco, meet costs running into trillions of yen for compensation and cleanup, the government had already agreed in November to provide 890 billion yen through a bailout fund. ...
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Paul builds campaign on doomsday scenarios
Mon,26 Dec 2011 10:42 AM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON, Iowa (Reuters) - The man who might win the Republican Party's first presidential nominating contest fears that the United Nations may take control of the U.S. money supply. Campaigning for the January 3 Iowa caucuses, Ron Paul warns of eroding civil liberties, a Soviet Union-style economic collapse and violence in the streets. The Texas congressman, author of "End the Fed," also wants to eliminate the central banking system that underpins the world's largest economy. ...
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Sony to sell LCD venture stake to Samsung for $940 million
Mon,26 Dec 2011 01:13 AM PST
Reuters -  TOKYO/SEOUL (Reuters) - Sony Corp has agreed to sell its nearly 50 percent stake in an LCD joint venture with Samsung Electronics to the South Korean company for $940 million, as it struggles to reduce huge losses at its TV business. The seven-year-old venture cut its capital by 15 percent in July and industry sources had said Sony was negotiating an exit, aiming to switch to cheaper outsourcing for flat screens for its TVs while Samsung pushes ahead with next-generation displays. ...
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Gunman in Santa suit killed six, self in Texas: police
Mon,26 Dec 2011 08:53 AM PST
Reuters -  GRAPEVINE, Texas (Reuters) - A gunman who killed six people and himself at a family Christmas celebration was dressed in a Santa Claus suit when opened fire, police said on Monday. Authorities continued their search for clues in Grapevine, a Dallas suburb dubbed the "Christmas Capital of Texas," to explain the Sunday murder-suicide rampage that left the seven shot dead among unwrapped holiday presents. The dead -- four women and three men ages 15 to 59 - were found Sunday morning in an apartment living room by police answering a voiceless 911 emergency call, authorities said. ...
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Nigerian leaders rapped after Islamists attack churches
Mon,26 Dec 2011 09:55 AM PST
Reuters -  ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's main opposition leader accused the government of incompetence on Monday after Islamist militants killed more than two dozen people in Christmas Day attacks on churches and other targets. Muhammadu Buhari, a northerner and former military ruler who lost a presidential election in April to incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian southerner, told a Nigerian daily that the government was slow to respond and had shown indifference to the bombings. ...
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Arab observers aim to see Syria's deadliest city
Mon,26 Dec 2011 04:59 PM PST
Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - Newly-arrived Arab League peace monitors will try Tuesday to see for themselves the situation in the Syrians city of Homs, which opponents of President Bashar al-Assad say has been pulverized by government troops and tanks in recent days. At least 31 people were killed in the city Monday as tanks fired into districts where opposition has been strongest to Assad's rule, activists said. ...
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PIP implants sold to Dutch firm under new name
Mon,26 Dec 2011 03:46 PM PST
Reuters -  AMSTERDAM/MARSEILLE (Reuters) - Potentially dangerous breast implants made by a now-defunct French company were sold to about 1,000 Dutch women under a different name, a Dutch health official said on Monday, broadening a scandal that could affect some 300,000 women worldwide. Dutch health authority spokeswoman Diane Bouhuijs said a Dutch company had bought implants made by France's Poly Implant Prothese, which went bankrupt in 2010 after French health authorities shut its doors and is now under investigation. The Dutch firm sold them in the Netherlands rebranded as "M-implants". ...
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Suicide bomber kills 7 outside Iraq ministry
Mon,26 Dec 2011 02:20 AM PST
Reuters - BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least seven people were killed when a suicide car bomber hit Iraq's interior ministry on Monday in the latest attack since a crisis erupted between the Shi'ite-led government and Sunni leaders a week ago. Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki sought the arrest of the Sunni vice president last Monday and asked parliament to fire his own Sunni deputy, triggering turmoil that threatens new sectarian strife just after the last U.S. troops withdrew. ... Full Story | Top |
Japan urges China to help keep North Korea in check
Sun,25 Dec 2011 11:12 PM PST
Reuters -  BEIJING (Reuters) - Japan urged China on Monday to shoulder a big role in ensuring North Korea avoids volatility after the death of its leader, Kim Jong-il. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda also urged Chinese President Hu Jintao to share information about developments in North Korea, where the succession of Kim's youngest son, Kim Jong-un, has fanned speculation about who will really control the secretive one-party state and its nuclear program. ...
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Analysis: Russia's Putin risks losing touch amid protests
Mon,26 Dec 2011 07:50 AM PST
Reuters -  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin is looking increasingly out of touch in Russia after the opposition brought tens of thousands of people out onto the streets of Moscow for the second time in two weeks to demand a parliamentary election be re-run. But the looming New Year holiday in Russia means there is likely to be a pause in the biggest opposition protests since he rose to power 12 years ago and he will hope they will now at least temporarily lose momentum. ...
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U.S. mulling Yemen's Saleh travel request: official
Mon,26 Dec 2011 12:32 PM PST
Reuters -  HONOLULU (Reuters) - The U.S. government would only allow Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to travel to the United States for "legitimate" medical treatment, and is now considering the request, a senior Obama administration official said on Monday. The official said Saleh's office recently contacted the U.S. embassy in Sanaa to say the president plans to leave Yemen soon and wants to get specialized care in the United States related to injuries he sustained in a June assassination attempt that forced him into hospital in Saudi Arabia. ...
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Former South Korean first lady heads North for condolences
Mon,26 Dec 2011 08:26 AM PST
Reuters -  PAJU, South Korea (Reuters) - The widow of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, the author of a now-jettisoned engagement policy with North Korea, crossed the fortified land border between the two sides on Monday to pay her respects to deceased dictator Kim Jong-il. Ties between the North and South have been frozen since the election of conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in 2008, who cut aid in a bid to force the North to abandon a nuclear programme and bring it to the negotiating table. ...
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From Dear Leader to Marilyn Monroe, defector mocks Kim
Sun,25 Dec 2011 11:18 PM PST
Reuters -  SEOUL (Reuters) - Above the ballooning dress of Marilyn Monroe is the face of the late North Korean despot Kim Jong-il. A pigeon flies overhead and a feather lies nearby on the ground. North Korean artist Song Byeok once proudly drew the "Dear Leader" in propaganda paintings. But he was sent to labor in one of the reclusive state's notorious prisons after hunger forced him to try to flee. Now a defector living in the South Korean capital, Seoul, Song has turned to mocking a ruler who led his country into famine, isolation and economic ruin. ...
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Hackers hit security think tank Stratfor's website
Sun,25 Dec 2011 02:14 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - U.S. security think tank Strategic Forecasting Inc (Stratfor) said its website had been hacked and that some of the names of corporate subscribers had been made public. Stratfor said the breach came from an unauthorized party, while activist hacker group Anonymous claimed responsibility. "As a result of this incident the operation of Stratfor's servers and email have been suspended," the Austin-based company said in an email on Sunday. ... Full Story | Top |
Powerful Darfur rebel chief killed, Sudan says
Sun,25 Dec 2011 04:47 PM PST
Reuters - KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's military has killed the leader of Darfur's most powerful rebel group, dealing a severe blow to insurgents in the remote western region and complicating a nearly decade-long war with Khartoum in which hundreds of thousands are believed to have died. The Darfur conflict has rumbled on since mainly non-Arab insurgents took up arms in 2003, saying the central government had left them out of the political and economic power structure and was favouring local Arab tribes. ... Full Story | Top |
Web gambling gets boost from Obama administration
Sun,25 Dec 2011 02:36 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration cleared the way for states to legalize Internet poker and certain other online betting in a switch that may help them reap billions in tax revenue and spur web-based gambling. A Justice Department opinion dated September and made public on Friday reversed decades of previous policy that included civil and criminal charges against operators of some of the most popular online poker sites. ...
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Mortars hit Iranian dissident camp in Iraq: Iraqi army
Sun,25 Dec 2011 05:12 PM PST
Reuters - BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two mortars hit an Iranian dissident camp in Iraq just days after Baghdad extended a year-end deadline for the camp to be closed as the U.N. negotiated resettlement of 3,000 residents there, the Iraqi military said Sunday. The mortars landed on Camp Ashraf, home to the People's Mujahideen Organization of Iran, or PMOI, an Iranian opposition group the United States and Iran officially consider a terrorist group. The camp is 65 km (40 miles) from Baghdad. ... Full Story | Top |
North Korean power-behind-throne emerges as neighbors meet
Sun,25 Dec 2011 03:03 PM PST
Reuters -  SEOUL/BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korean television Sunday showed power-behind-the-throne Jang Song-thaek in the uniform of a general in a sign of his growing sway after the death of Kim Jong-il, and Japan's prime minister said the region faced a new phase with Kim's demise. Footage that North Korean television said was shot on Saturday showed Jang on the frontrow of top military officers who accompanied Kim Jong-un, the youngest son of Kim Jong-il and his anointed successor, paying their respects before Kim's body. ...
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Obamas go to church, dine in for Christmas in Hawaii
Mon,26 Dec 2011 11:16 AM PST
Reuters -  HONOLULU, Hawaii (Reuters) - President Barack Obama spent a low-key Christmas Day with his wife and daughters in Hawaii, going to church and thanking U.S. troops for their service before hosting friends for dinner at the first family's rented beach house. The Obamas started opening gifts around 8 a.m. on Sunday and then ate breakfast and sang carols together before heading to the chapel at the Marine Corps Base Hawaii for a Christmas service, the White House said. ...
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Japan, China look to trade talks, debt buys
Sun,25 Dec 2011 02:27 PM PST
Reuters -  BEIJING (Reuters) - Japan and China agreed to start formal talks early next year on a free trade pact that would also include South Korea, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Sunday after talks that showed the deepening bonds between Asia's two biggest economies. Japan also said it was looking to buy Chinese treasury debt, and the two governments agreed to enhance financial cooperation. "On a free trade agreement among Japan, China and South Korea, we've made a substantial progress for an early start of negotiations," Noda told reporters after his meeting with Premier Wen Jiabao. ...
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Egypt's military rulers study plan to speed up vote
Sun,25 Dec 2011 01:45 PM PST
Reuters -  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's military rulers are studying a proposal from their own advisers to bring forward parliamentary elections by two weeks after demands from protesters and politicians to speed up transition to civilian rule, an advisory council member said Sunday. Many Egyptians believe the army is no longer fit to manage security on the ground and carry out difficult reforms at a time of political and economic crisis. ...
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Tens of thousands of protesters pressure Putin
Sun,25 Dec 2011 11:45 AM PST
Reuters -  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of flag-waving and chanting protesters called Saturday for a disputed parliamentary election to be rerun and an end to Vladimir Putin's rule, increasing pressure on the Russian leader as he tries to win back the presidency. The protesters shouted "Russia without Putin" and "New elections, New elections" as one speaker after another called for an end to Putin's 12-year domination of the country at the second big opposition rally in two weeks in central Moscow. "Do you want Putin to return to the presidency?" novelist Boris Akunin asked from a large stage. ...
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Libya to include rebels in military from January
Sun,25 Dec 2011 01:06 PM PST
Reuters -  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya will include thousands of former rebels who helped topple Muammar Gaddafi in its armed forces from January, the defense minister said on Sunday, testing the government's ability to get rebel leaders to cede command of their fighters. Although rebels met a deadline imposed by the National Transitional Council (NTC) to withdraw this week from the capital Tripoli, militias led by rival commanders still guard key installations and checkpoints across the city. ...
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Mortars hit Iranian dissident camp in Iraq: Iraqi army
Sun,25 Dec 2011 02:03 PM PST
Reuters - BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two mortars hit an Iranian dissident camp in Iraq just days after Baghdad extended a year-end deadline for the camp to be closed as the U.N. negotiated resettlement of 3,000 residents there, the Iraqi military said Sunday. The mortars landed on Camp Ashraf, home to the People's Mujahideen Organization of Iran, or PMOI, an Iranian opposition group the United States and Iran officially consider a terrorist group. The camp is 65 km (40 miles) from Baghdad. ... Full Story | Top |
Powerful Darfur rebel chief dead, Sudan says
Sun,25 Dec 2011 09:38 AM PST
Reuters - KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's armed forces have killed the leader of Darfur's most powerful rebel group, state media said on Sunday, dealing a severe blow to insurgents in the remote western region in their nearly decade-long war with Khartoum. The Darfur conflict has rumbled on since mainly non-Arab insurgents took up arms in 2003, saying the central government had left them out of the political and economic power structure and was favoring local Arab tribes. Khalil Ibrahim, head of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), emerged as one of the most powerful rebel commanders. ... Full Story | Top |
Islamists kill dozens in Nigeria Christmas bombs
Sun,25 Dec 2011 02:44 PM PST
Reuters -  ABUJA (Reuters) - Islamist militants set off bombs across Nigeria on Christmas Day - three targeting churches including one that killed at least 27 people - raising fears that they are trying to ignite sectarian civil war. The Boko Haram Islamist sect, which aims to impose sharia law across the country, claimed responsibility for the three church bombs, the second Christmas in a row the group has caused mass carnage with deadly bombings of churches. Security forces also blamed the sect for two other blasts in the north. ...
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Stores see busy, but not bang-up Christmas Eve
Sun,25 Dec 2011 05:26 AM PST
Reuters -  NEW YORK/LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Retailers saw a steady flow of last-minute shoppers on Saturday, the day before Christmas, putting a moderate cap on a pre-holiday season that started with a bang and has since waned. Industry watchers are forecasting a stronger holiday shopping season than expected, fueled by deep discounts at the start of the season, unusually warm and dry weather, a late Hanukkah, and an extra shopping day. On the last shopping day before Christmas, the scene at several malls in different parts of the country was busy, but neither shoppers nor retailers seemed overwhelmed. ...
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Head of Arab mission reaches Syria amid more unrest
Sun,25 Dec 2011 03:25 PM PST
Reuters -  BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Sudanese general flew to Damascus on Sunday to head an Arab League mission that will check Syria's compliance with an Arab peace plan to halt a nine-month crackdown on unrest in which more than 5,000 people have been killed. General Mohammed al-Dabi's arrival coincided with fresh violence in the restive central city of Homs and followed twin suicide bombings that killed 44 people in Damascus on Friday. ...
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Pope Christmas peace appeal marred by Nigeria blasts
Sun,25 Dec 2011 08:14 AM PST
Reuters -  VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict called for an end to violence in Syria on Sunday but his Christmas day peace appeal was marred by a bomb at a Catholic Church in Nigeria which the Vatican condemned as blind "terrorist violence." The leader of the world's 1.3 billion Roman Catholics delivered his twice-yearly "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) message and blessing to tens of thousands of people in St Peter's Square on a crisp but clear day as millions of others watched on television around the world. ...
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U.S. urges dialogue over Iraqi crisis
Sun,25 Dec 2011 10:50 AM PST
Reuters -  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Vice President Joe Biden spoke by telephone on Sunday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki about violence in Baghdad and a political crisis that has erupted in the week since the last American troops left Iraq. U.S. officials, diplomats and Iraqi politicians have been in a flurry of talks to calm a crisis that threatens to push Iraq back in the kind of sectarian strife that took the OPEC oil producer to the edge of civil war only a few years ago. Just a week after the last U.S. ...
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Yemen leader urges truce after troops kill protesters
Sun,25 Dec 2011 10:45 AM PST
Reuters -  SANAA (Reuters) - Yemen's acting leader on Sunday urged foes and loyalists of President Ali Abdullah to call a truce, after Saleh's forces killed nine people demanding he be tried for the deaths of demonstrators over nearly a year of protests against him. Troops from what witnesses identified as loyalist units opened fire on tens of thousands of protesters approaching Saleh's compound in the capital on Saturday after a days-long march from the city of Taiz by protesters chanting "No to immunity!. ...
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IMF's Lagarde warns global economy threatened
Sun,25 Dec 2011 04:49 AM PST
Reuters -  PARIS (Reuters) - The head of the International Monetary Fund said the world economy was in danger and urged Europeans to speak with one voice on a debt crisis that has rattled the global financial system. In Nigeria last week, IMF Christine Lagarde said the IMF's 4 percent growth forecast for the world economy in 2012 could be revised downward, but gave no new figure. "The world economy is in a dangerous situation," she told France's Journal du Dimanche in an interview published on Sunday. ...
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U.N. passes leaner 2012-2013 budget amid economic turmoil
Sat,24 Dec 2011 07:44 PM PST
Reuters -  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly on Saturday approved a 5 percent decrease in the United Nations' budget for 2012-2013 over the previous two-year period, only the second time in 50 years that the world body has slashed its spending. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised the 193-nation General Assembly for reducing costs at a time when governments around the world are cutting expenditures and implementing austerity measures in response to the global financial crisis. "I am here to thank you for solidifying, with me, our compact to make the most of our resources ... ...
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At least 38 dead in Haitian shipwreck off Cuba
Sat,24 Dec 2011 08:49 PM PST
Reuters - HAVANA (Reuters) - At least 38 people died on Saturday when a boat carrying Haitian migrants sunk off the coast of Guantanamo province in far eastern Cuban, Cuban television reported. It said 87 people, including seven women, were rescued after Cuban civil defense forces spotted the boat 100 meters off Punta Maisi, which is about 600 miles southeast of Havana. There were no details on possible cause of the accident or the destination of the boat, but search and rescue efforts were still underway, the report said. The dead included 21 men and 17 women, it said. ... Full Story | Top |
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