Today's Reuters News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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Alibaba hires U.S. lobbying firm as it eyes Yahoo
Wed,28 Dec 2011 07:14 PM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Alibaba Group has hired a Washington lobbying firm in a sign that the Chinese e-commerce company would be willing to make a bid for all of Yahoo Inc in the event that talks to unwind their Asian partnership fail. Japan's Softbank Corp, which owns a 30 percent stake in Alibaba and is a partner in Yahoo Japan, is also listed as an Alibaba affiliate in the disclosure by the lobbying firm, Duberstein Group Inc. Alibaba Group's founder, Jack Ma, said in September he was keen to buy all of Yahoo if the opportunity presented itself. ...
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North Korea hails nuclear, military feats of Kim Jong-il
Wed,28 Dec 2011 10:43 PM PST
Reuters -  SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea lauded the military might built up by deceased leader Kim Jong-il on Thursday, likely tying his young successor to the same policies that have set Northeast Asia on edge as the impoverished state inches closer to nuclear weapons capability. A gathering of 100,000, soldiers in uniform and bare-headed civilians, gathered in silence in wintry sunlight in the capital Pyongyang to mourn the passing of the man who had led the country for 17 years until his death on December 17. ...
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Arab observers fan out across Syria
Wed,28 Dec 2011 10:14 PM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Arab monitors head to three more Syrian cities on Thursday to check if government forces are complying with a peace plan after a delegation to Homs, centre of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, was mobbed by protesters demanding protection. The Arab League mission, the first international involvement on the ground in Syria since the revolt began last March, got off to a controversial start when its Sudanese leader said he had seen "nothing frightening" on his first trip to Homs. ...
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Retail sales resilient in final holiday stretch
Wed,28 Dec 2011 02:30 PM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Retail sales look poised for a solid finish to the holiday season as warm weather and deep discounts encouraged shoppers to hit stores or go online to snap up last-minute gifts, according to data released on Wednesday. Sales in the week ending December 24 soared 14.8 percent from a year ago to about $44 billion, helped by Christmas Eve falling on a Saturday, according to ShopperTrak, which monitors traffic at shopping malls. Good weather also helped as snowstorms had blanketed some areas at the same time last year. Sales on December 26, a public holiday this year, soared 25. ...
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Whistleblower documents illuminate case against BNY Mellon
Wed,28 Dec 2011 02:26 PM PST
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Confidential whistleblower documents that helped spark a massive state and federal investigation into how Bank of New York Mellon Corp charged pension funds for currency exchange, provide a rare window into how a bank insider aided a lawsuit against the bank. The information provided by whistleblower Grant Wilson, who worked at BNY Mellon, included a detailed analysis of how the bank allegedly provided "fictitious" foreign-currency costs for pension funds. ...
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Iowa's moderate Republicans: an edge for Romney?
Wed,28 Dec 2011 03:45 PM PST
Reuters -  DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Iowa's moderate Republicans are a small and dispirited bunch, but they could provide a vital boost for Mitt Romney in the state's tight kickoff presidential contest. While the Republican White House contenders battle for the state's big but badly split bloc of religious conservatives, Iowa's moderates are a forgotten minority who have coalesced around the candidate they consider their only choice: Romney. But it is uncertain whether they will turn out for him at the caucus votes on January 3, when the state kicks off the Republican nominating fight. ...
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U.S. Fifth Fleet says won't allow Hormuz disruption
Wed,28 Dec 2011 09:12 AM PST
Reuters -  TEHRAN/DUBAI (Reuters) - The U.S. Fifth Fleet said on Wednesday it would not allow any disruption of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, after Iran threatened to stop ships moving through the world's most important oil route. "Anyone who threatens to disrupt freedom of navigation in an international strait is clearly outside the community of nations; any disruption will not be tolerated," the Bahrain-based fleet said in an e-mail. ...
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Stratfor delays website launch after hack attack
Wed,28 Dec 2011 10:37 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - Private intelligence analysis firm Strategic Forecasting Inc., which was attacked by online hackers at the weekend, said in a letter to free subscribers that it has decided to delay the launching of its website by about a week. The website of Strategic Forecasting, also known as Stratfor, has been offline for several days following the hacking attack. "As part of our ongoing investigation, we have also decided to delay the launching of our website until a thorough review and adjustment by outside experts can be completed," Stratfor said in an email. ... Full Story | Top |
Analysis: Manning's legal strategy could lead to plea deal
Wed,28 Dec 2011 04:23 PM PST
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - While it may appear that the government's document-leaking case against U.S. Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning is strong, the defense could have some surprising leverage with prosecutors and force plea negotiations. Prosecutors may in particular find it difficult to prove the 24-year-old Manning intended to provide the information to enemies of the United States such as al Qaeda, and that the information was helpful to them, legal experts said. ...
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More trouble for Gingrich as Iowa campaign quickens
Wed,28 Dec 2011 02:31 PM PST
Reuters -  DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's campaign struggled to fend off more bad news on Tuesday after he was quoted supporting main rival Mitt Romney's healthcare reform in Massachusetts. Gingrich, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, has seen his poll numbers drop in the early-voting state of Iowa under a blitz of negative ads accusing him of being an unreliable Washington insider. He tried to regain some of his lost momentum in a pugnacious interview with CNN in which he used some of his strongest language yet to attack his main opponents. ...
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Seven hurt as bomb hits madrassa in Nigeria
Wed,28 Dec 2011 02:31 PM PST
Reuters - PORT HARCOURT/JOS (Reuters) - Assailants threw a homemade bomb into a madrassa in southern Nigeria's Delta state, police said, wounding seven people and escalating tensions between Muslims and Christians after a spate of church bombings across the nation. Six of the wounded were children younger than nine learning the Koran at the Islamic seminary, or madrassa. In a separate incident, armed Fulani herdsmen shot dead three members of a family in the ethnically and religiously mixed Plateau state on Wednesday, witnesses and officials said. ... Full Story | Top |
Arab observers fan out across Syria
Wed,28 Dec 2011 03:17 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - Arab monitors head to three more Syrian cities on Thursday to check if government forces are complying with a peace plan after a delegation to Homs, center of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, was mobbed by a protesters demanding protection. The Arab League mission, the first international involvement on the ground in Syria since the revolt began last March, got off to a controversial start when its Sudanese leader said he had seen "nothing frightening" on his first trip to Homs. ...
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Snow and tears mark funeral for North Korean leader
Wed,28 Dec 2011 01:17 PM PST
Reuters - SEOUL (Reuters) - The world watched anxiously on Wednesday as North Korea staged a huge funeral in the capital, Pyongyang, for former leader Kim Jong-il, searching for signs of what to expect from the isolated nation that may be close to attaining nuclear weapons capacity. Bleak pictures from state television showed a funeral cortege led by a limousine carrying a huge picture of the 69-year-old, who died on December 17, passing serried ranks of olive green-clad soldiers whose bare heads were bowed in homage in the main square of the snow-covered capital. ...
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Alibaba hires U.S. lobbying firm as it eyes Yahoo
Wed,28 Dec 2011 03:48 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - Alibaba Group has hired Washington lobbying firm Duberstein Group Inc, in a sign that the Chinese company would be willing to make a bid for all of Yahoo Inc if talks for buying back Yahoo's Asian assets do not succeed. Japan's Softbank Corp is also listed as an Alibaba affiliate in the lobbying firm's disclosure. Alibaba declined to comment. ...
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Netflix, Gap lag in customer satisfaction online
Wed,28 Dec 2011 02:27 PM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Netflix Inc and Gap Inc were among the worst performers in customer satisfaction among the largest online retailers this holiday season, according to a survey released on Wednesday. Overstock.com Inc came last out of the 40 largest online retailers, with a rating of 72 out of 100, down 4 points from last year, the survey by ForSee found. Gap.com, Gap's main website, was second last with 73 points, down 5 from a year ago. Other laggards included buy.com and websites run by Sony and Toys R Us, ForSee said. ...
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Deutsche Boerse, NYSE extend merger deadline to sway Europe
Wed,28 Dec 2011 02:32 PM PST
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext have extended the deadline for completion of their planned merger to March 31 next year as they seek to convince European regulators to back the $9 billion deal. The exchanges, which agreed the merger on February 14, told the Securities and Exchange Commission last week they were exercising their right to extend the initial termination deadline of December31 2011. ... Full Story | Top |
Poor kids miss out on playtime, pediatricians say
Wed,28 Dec 2011 02:32 PM PST
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children in poor urban neighborhoods need more chances for old-fashioned playtime in their daily lives, says a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). A number of experts have raised concerns that children these days have little time for unstructured play -- which, they say, is important for kids' physical and mental development. The new report follows another from the AAP a few years ago, which argued that U.S. suburban children are "overscheduled" with formal classes and lessons, leaving them little time for simple play. ...
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Analysis: China needs new policy course as capital tide turns
Wed,28 Dec 2011 05:06 AM PST
Reuters -  BEIJING (Reuters) - China's economy has surfed for years on a crest of hefty capital inflows, but the tide that brought gains in money supply is turning as global growth slows. Capital has flowed out the past two months. If that persists, the challenge for the People's Bank of China will be to adjust policies to keep the country's growth rates from falling much. That will be no mean feat for policymakers schooled in absorbing inflows averaging 256 billion yuan ($40.5 billion) a month since July 2005, but short on experience of how to handle outflows. ...
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Hackers say to publish emails stolen from Stratfor
Tue,27 Dec 2011 03:02 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - Hackers affiliated with the Anonymous group said they are getting ready to publish emails stolen from private intelligence analysis firm Strategic Forecasting Inc, whose clients include the U.S. military, Wall Street banks and other corporations. Strategic Forecasting Inc, which is also known as Stratfor, disclosed over the weekend that its website had been hacked and that some information about its corporate subscribers had been made public. The hacking group known as Antisec has claimed responsibility for the attack and promised to cause "mayhem" by releasing stolen documents. ... Full Story | Top |
Consumer confidence perks up, house prices sag
Tue,27 Dec 2011 03:44 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Improving labor market conditions lifted U.S. consumer confidence to an eight month high in December, but persistently weak house prices remain an obstacle to faster economic growth. The sharp rise in sentiment reported by the Conference Board on Tuesday offered hope for a pick-up in consumer spending after an anemic performance in November. "It suggests there is some real improvement in the economy. Consumer confidence really boils down to how people feel about the labor market," said Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, North ...
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Obama taps economist, banker as Fed governors
Tue,27 Dec 2011 03:46 PM PST
Reuters -  HONOLULU/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will nominate Harvard economist Jeremy Stein and Jerome Powell, an investment banker and former Treasury official, to the two empty seats on the Federal Reserve's policy-setting board of governors. The White House's pick of candidates, who have Democratic and Republican credentials respectively, may help speed their nomination through Congress amid a sluggish economic recovery that has failed to put a major dent in the unemployment rate, now at 8.6 percent. ...
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More trouble for Gingrich as Iowa campaign quickens
Tue,27 Dec 2011 03:47 PM PST
Reuters -  DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's campaign struggled to fend off more bad news on Tuesday after he was quoted supporting main rival Mitt Romney's healthcare reform in Massachusetts. Gingrich, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, has seen his poll numbers drop in the early-voting state of Iowa under a blitz of negative ads accusing him of being an unreliable Washington insider. He tried to regain some of his lost momentum in a pugnacious interview with CNN in which he used some of his strongest language yet to attack his main opponents. ...
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Sears closing up to 120 stores as sales slide
Wed,28 Dec 2011 05:10 AM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Sears Holdings Corp will close as many as 120 of its Kmart and Sears discount and department stores after its holiday sales slumped, sending its shares sliding more than 27 percent to their lowest level in three years. The retailer, which is controlled by its chairman, the hedge fund manager Edward Lampert, has seen sales decline every year since the $11 billion merger of the two chains in 2005, and likely faces further closings to cut expenses, preserve cash and push back against rivals such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Amazon.com Inc , analysts said. ...
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Democrat Nelson to retire from Senate
Tue,27 Dec 2011 05:18 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic Senator Ben Nelson said on Tuesday that he will retire next year, dealing a significant blow to his party's hopes of keeping control of the Senate after the November 2012 elections. Nelson, a former Nebraska governor, said he felt it was time for him to leave elective office and seek new ways to serve his state and his country. "I'm announcing today that I will not seek re-election. Simply put, it's time to move on," Nelson, 70, said in a video statement. ...
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Iran threatens to stop Gulf oil if sanctions widened
Tue,27 Dec 2011 03:47 PM PST
Reuters -  TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran threatened on Tuesday to stop the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz if foreign sanctions were imposed on its crude exports over its nuclear ambitions, a move that could trigger military conflict with economies dependent on Gulf oil. Western tensions with Iran have increased since a November 8 report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog saying Tehran appears to have worked on designing an atomic bomb and may still be pursuing research to that end. Iran strongly denies this and says it is developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. ...
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Putin ejects Kremlin "puppet master" after protests
Tue,27 Dec 2011 03:48 PM PST
Reuters -  MOSCOW (Reuters) - The architect of Vladimir Putin's tightly controlled political system became one of its most senior victims on Tuesday when he was shunted out of the Kremlin in the wake of the biggest opposition protests of Putin's 12-year rule. The sacrifice of Vladislav Surkov, branded the Kremlin's 'puppet master' by enemies and friends alike, is also a rare admission of failure for Russia's 'alpha dog' leader: Surkov's system was Putin's system. ...
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Analysis: U.S. rental demand lifts housing sector
Tue,27 Dec 2011 03:48 PM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Brian Keith is busier than ever as the architecture firm he works for rushes to wrap up work on a 300-unit apartment complex in Dallas. The project is one of dozens the firm, JHP Architecture, has on its hands -- a surge of business driven by a rise in demand in the United States for rental properties. The increased demand has forced JHP to expand, and it expects to keep hiring at least through the first quarter. "We're seeing overall work come back and there's a backlog of contracts to go through," said Keith, director of urban design and planning at JHP. ...
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Democrat Nelson to retire from Senate
Tue,27 Dec 2011 02:51 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic Senator Ben Nelson said on Tuesday he will retire next year, dealing a significant blow to his party's hopes of keeping control of the Senate in the November 2012 election. Nelson's decision not to seek re-election puts his seat in heavily Republican Nebraska up for grabs, boosting Republicans' hopes of wresting control of the chamber from Democrats. Republicans already have a majority in the House of Representatives, where they have heavily resisted many of President Barack Obama's spending plans over concerns about a build-up of U.S. deficits and debt ...
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Sears closing more stores as holiday sales slide
Tue,27 Dec 2011 03:45 PM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Sears Holdings Corp will close as many as 120 of its Kmart and Sears discount and department stores after its holiday sales slumped, sending its shares sliding more than 27 percent to their lowest level in three years. The retailer, which is controlled by its chairman, the hedge fund manager Edward Lampert, has seen sales decline every year since the $11 billion merger of the two chains in 2005, and likely faces further closings to cut expenses, preserve cash and push back against rivals such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Amazon.com Inc, analysts said. ...
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Mass anti-Assad protest in Homs as monitors visit
Tue,27 Dec 2011 03:52 PM PST
Reuters -  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Syrians in Homs rallied on Tuesday against President Bashar al-Assad, emboldened by Arab peace monitors' first tour of the flashpoint city, after the army withdrew some tanks following days of unrest. Some 70,000 protesters marched towards the city centre where security forces fired at them and lobbed teargas, activists said. ...
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Funeral for North Korean leader amid worry about future
Tue,27 Dec 2011 11:07 AM PST
Reuters -  SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea will hold a funeral procession on Wednesday for its deceased "dear leader", Kim Jong-il, making way for his son, Kim Jong-un, to become the third member of the family to run the isolated and unpredictable Asian country. The coming year was supposed to mark North Korea's self-proclaimed transformation into a "strong and prosperous" nation, but it faces a dangerous transition to a young, untested leader at a time when dictatorships across the world have tumbled. ...
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Insight: FDA warned PIP on breast implant safety in 2000
Tue,27 Dec 2011 10:20 AM 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 10 years before the company came under scrutiny from European regulators. The U.S. 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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Obama to ask for debt limit hike: Treasury official
Tue,27 Dec 2011 08:33 AM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House plans to ask Congress by the end of the week for an increase in the government's debt ceiling to allow the United States to pay its bills on time, according to a senior Treasury Department official on Tuesday. The approval is expected to go through without a challenge, given that Congress is in recess until later in January and the request is in line with an agreement to keep the U.S. government funded into 2013. ...
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6.9 magnitude quake hits southeastern Russia: USGS
Tue,27 Dec 2011 07:41 AM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - An earthquake of 6.9 magnitude hit southeastern Russia near the border with Mongolia on Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The epicenter of the quake was 28 miles deep and was about 57 miles northeast of Kyzyl, Russia, USGS said. (Reporting By John O'Callaghan) Full Story | Top |
Northern Nigerian Christians warn of religious war
Tue,27 Dec 2011 03:06 PM PST
Reuters -  ABUJA (Reuters) - Northern Nigerian Christians said on Tuesday they feared that a spate of Christmas Day bombings by Islamist militants that killed over two dozen people could lead to a religious war in Africa's most populous country. The warning was made in a statement by the northern branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), an umbrella organization comprising various denominations including Catholics, Protestant and Pentecostal churches. ...
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GSM phones vulnerable to hijack scams -researcher
Tue,27 Dec 2011 12:44 PM PST
Reuters -  BERLIN (Reuters) - Flaws in a widely used wireless technology could allow hackers to gain remote control of phones and instruct them to send text messages or make calls, according to an expert on mobile phone security. They could use the vulnerability in the GSM technology -- which is used by most telecom operators globally and by billions of people -- to make calls or send texts to expensive, premium phone and messaging services in scams, said Karsten Nohl, head of Berlin-based Security Research Labs. ...
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Greek conservatives drop February election demand
Tue,27 Dec 2011 06:57 AM PST
Reuters -  ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's conservative New Democracy party dropped its insistence on holding elections as early as February 19 on Tuesday, potentially giving technocrat Prime Minister Lucas Papademos a few more weeks to pass reforms and get a vital debt restructuring deal. New Democracy spokesman Yannis Michelakis said the party could agree to an extension under certain circumstances but said that elections would have to be held at the latest by Greek Orthodox Easter, which falls on April 15. ...
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Iraqi al Qaeda group says behind Baghdad bombings
Tue,27 Dec 2011 03:12 AM PST
Reuters -  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's affiliate in Iraq has claimed responsibility for a slew of bombings that killed at least 71 people in Baghdad last week, a group that monitors online communication among insurgents said Tuesday. A suicide car bomber and multiple roadside bombs hit Baghdad's mainly Shi'ite areas on December 22 in the first attacks on the capital since U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq on December 18. ...
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E&Y audit panel says no violations in Olympus handover
Tue,27 Dec 2011 03:09 AM 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 problems with the work of Ernst & Young's Japanese arm 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 the probe. ...
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China to start work on world's highest airport
Tue,27 Dec 2011 03:58 AM PST
Reuters -  BEIJING (Reuters) - China will start work on the world's highest airport next year, in Tibet's Nagqu county, state media said on Tuesday, which will be about 100 meters (328 ft) higher than the existing record holder in another part of the remote and restive region. Nagqu airport will be at an altitude of 4,436 meters (14,553 ft) above sea level, slightly higher than the airport in Qamdo town at 4,334 meters (14,219 ft), Xinhua news agency reported. The airport will cost 1.8 billion yuan ($280 million) and is expected to open in three years, Xinhua added. ...
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