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Wednesday, December 28, 2011 12:38 AM PST

Today's Reuters World News Headlines - Yahoo! News: "Great successor" poised to take over North Korea Russian ship repaired and freed from Antarctic ice Argentine president diagnosed with thyroid cancer Street fights in Yemen as U.S. considers letting in Saleh Mass anti-Assad protest in Homs as monitors visit Iran threatens to stop Gulf oil if sanctions widened Northern Nigerian Christians warn of religious war U.S. citizen goes on trial in Iran on spying charges Israel kills al Qaeda-linked militant in Gaza strike Jewish zealots strike fear in flashpoint Israel town Jewish zealots strike fear in flashpoint Israel town Street fights hit Yemen as U.S. mulls letting in Saleh Tensions simmer as Iraqi leaders try resolve crisis Egypt court ends virginity tests on female detainees IMF says expects January talks with Egypt Israelis rally against violence by zealots U.S. extradites woman suspected of Bosnia war crimes Insight: FDA warned PIP on breast implant safety in 2000 More than 2,500 freed in Cuba amnesty: rights group Syrian forces kill 15 on first day of Arab League mission Growing poverty looms for next Mexican president Analysis: Syria monitors have little time to prove credibility Ruling party under pressure in Jamaica election Factbox: Jamaica's elections and the economy Clinton concerned over democracy in Hungary: report 6.9 magnitude quake hits southeastern Russia: USGS India PM pleads for anti-graft law as protests resume Syrians argue, plead with Arab monitors: video Profile: Syria's Homs a sectarian war zone as monitors arrive Putin says Russian protesters seeking to sow chaos Greek conservatives drop February election demand Feisty Italy union chief stands between Monti and reform Peres urges Israelis to mobilize to thwart zealots U.S. citizen goes on trial in Iran on spying charges Gunfire erupts as Syrians plead with Arab monitors in Homs:video Syrian forces use tear gas to stop protesters in Homs: group Afghanistan tells NATO to disband local force, may open rift Pakistan president vows defiance as crises mount Insight: Violence creeping into Mexican capital Egypt court ends virginity tests on female detainees "Great successor" poised to take over North Korea Tue,27 Dec 2011 09:55 PM PST Reuters - SEOUL (Reuters) - Young and untested, Kim Jong-un has all but taken over North Korea's leadership, with state media calling him "supreme commander" and "leader of the state, army and party" well before his late father was borne through the streets of Pyongyang in a state funeral on Wednesday. Kim, believed to be about 27 years old, walked alongside a limousine carrying his father's coffin, as it set out on a funeral procession amid snowflurries. ... Full Story Top Russian ship repaired and freed from Antarctic ice Tue,27 Dec 2011 07:00 PM PST Reuters - WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A Russian fishing vessel with a damaged hull trapped in Antarctica for nearly two weeks has been patched up and freed from pack ice, New Zealand rescue authorities said on Wednesday. The 48-metre (157-feet) Sparta, with a crew of 32, had been anchored to the Antarctic ice shelf around 2,000 nautical miles southeast of New Zealand after ice ripped a hole in its hull and it started taking on water on Dec 15. The New Zealand air force made two air drops of equipment and material to help the crew make temporary repairs and pump water out of the vessel. ... Full Story Top Argentine president diagnosed with thyroid cancer Tue,27 Dec 2011 06:52 PM PST Reuters - BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine President Cristina Fernandez has thyroid cancer and will undergo surgery next month, her government said on Tuesday, adding that the cancerous cells had not spread. Fernandez, 58, was easily elected to a second four-year term in October, vowing to deepen her unorthodox policies despite complaints from business leaders who say her heavy-handed management of the economy is stifling investment. Fernandez was diagnosed with a papillary carcinoma that has not metastasized, said her spokesman, Alfredo Scoccimarro. ... Full Story Top Street fights in Yemen as U.S. considers letting in Saleh Tue,27 Dec 2011 06:14 PM PST Reuters - SANAA (Reuters) - Foes and backers of a plan to ease Yemen's president out of power fought each other with stones and clubs on Tuesday, deepening the country's chaos as Washington considered a request from the leader to fly to the United States. Youth activists, who have led months of protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33-year rule, were split on whether he should leave the country - saying it might ease the conflict but could also let him escape justice. ... Full Story Top Mass anti-Assad protest in Homs as monitors visit Tue,27 Dec 2011 04:40 PM PST Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Syrians have taken to the streets in the flashpoint city of Homs to rally against President Bashar al-Assad and plead for newly-arrived Arab peace monitors to bear witness to their plight. About 70,000 protesters marched towards the city centre on Tuesday where security forces fired at them and lobbed teargas, activists said. The military withdrew some tanks, in what the activists called a ploy to persuade the monitors that the city was calm. Footage on the Internet showed monitors confronted by residents as gunfire crackled around them. ... Full Story Top 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. ... 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. ... Full Story Top U.S. citizen goes on trial in Iran on spying charges Tue,27 Dec 2011 02:18 PM PST Reuters - TEHRAN (Reuters) - An American man of Iranian descent, accused by Iran of spying for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, went on trial in Tehran on Tuesday, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. Iranian authorities announced Amir Mirza Hekmati's arrest earlier this month. State television has shown a taped interview with him in which Hekmati said he was a CIA agent. "In the indictment (read in court), Hekmati was charged with cooperating with the hostile government of America as well as spying for the CIA," Fars reported. ... Full Story Top Israel kills al Qaeda-linked militant in Gaza strike Tue,27 Dec 2011 01:56 PM PST Reuters - GAZA (Reuters) - Israel killed an al Qaeda-affiliated militant in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, accusing him of involvement in planning to launch attacks on the Jewish state from neighboring Egypt. The missile, apparently from an aircraft, that killed Abdallah Telbani and wounded two other men in a motorized rickshaw was followed by a separate strike on a jeep elsewhere in Gaza City. The second vehicle's three occupants were injured, Palestinian hospital officials and witnesses said. ... Full Story Top Jewish zealots strike fear in flashpoint Israel town Tue,27 Dec 2011 01:43 PM PST Reuters - BEIT SHEMESH, Israel (Reuters) - American immigrant Ayelet Wortman was walking with a male friend on a weekend afternoon when a black-cloaked ultra-Orthodox Jew grabbed him from behind, ripped his shirt, and called her a "whore." "We literally ran all the way back home," some blocks away, Wortman, 18, said in an interview in Beit Shemesh, a flashpoint Israeli city near Jerusalem where tensions have flared over an increasingly assertive and aggressive sect of religious zealots. ... Full Story Top Jewish zealots strike fear in flashpoint Israel town Tue,27 Dec 2011 01:42 PM PST Reuters - BEIT SHEMESH, Israel (Reuters) - American immigrant Ayelet Wortman was walking with a male friend on a weekend afternoon when a black-cloaked ultra-Orthodox Jew grabbed him from behind, ripped his shirt, and called her a "whore." "We literally ran all the way back home," some blocks away, Wortman, 18, said in an interview in Beit Shemesh, a flashpoint Israeli city near Jerusalem where tensions have flared over an increasingly assertive and aggressive sect of religious zealots. ... Full Story Top Street fights hit Yemen as U.S. mulls letting in Saleh Tue,27 Dec 2011 01:40 PM PST Reuters - SANAA (Reuters) - Foes and backers of a plan to ease Yemen's president out of power fought each other with stones and clubs on Tuesday, deepening the country's chaos as Washington said it was considering a request from the leader to fly to the United States. Youth activists, who have led months of protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33-year rule, were split on him leaving the country - saying it might ease the conflict but could also let him escape justice. ... Full Story Top Tensions simmer as Iraqi leaders try resolve crisis Tue,27 Dec 2011 12:31 PM PST Reuters - BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's courts should decide the charges against a vice president accused of running death squads, Iraq's Kurdish president and the Sunni speaker of parliament said on Tuesday in a bid to defuse the country's worst political crisis in a year. President Jalal Talabani and speaker Osama al-Nujaifi also agreed to organize a national conference for all political blocs to ease tensions that have raised fears of a return to sectarian conflict after the last U.S. troops left nine days ago. ... Full Story Top Egypt court ends virginity tests on female detainees Tue,27 Dec 2011 12:06 PM PST Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - The Egyptian woman who brought a case against Egypt's army for conducting "virginity tests" on her and others hailed a court ruling on Tuesday ordering the military to stop such actions. Activists say the verdict is a victory for civilian courts over generals who took charge when Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February and adds pressure on the army to hold to account troops who have been rebuked by Egyptians and major aid donor the United States over the treatment of women during protests. "I am very happy. ... Full Story Top IMF says expects January talks with Egypt Tue,27 Dec 2011 11:59 AM PST Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday it planned to meet with Egyptian authorities to discuss the country's economic problems but added that any funding would have to be based on benchmarks that had broad political support. Egypt, whose economy has been hammered by the uprising that unseated Hosni Mubarak in February, turned down a $3 billion IMF facility in June, but ministers have indicated the country may now be prepared to return to the negotiating table. ... Full Story Top Israelis rally against violence by zealots Tue,27 Dec 2011 11:04 AM PST Reuters - BEIT SHEMESH, Israel (Reuters) - Several thousand pro-democracy activists protested on Tuesday against violence by religious zealots trying to impose their religious code on a flashpoint town near Jerusalem. The rally in the town of Beit Shemesh was organized after an outburst of public anger when an eight-year-old girl said on national television that ultra-Orthodox men had spat at her on her way to school, accusing her of immodest dress. ... Full Story Top U.S. extradites woman suspected of Bosnia war crimes Tue,27 Dec 2011 10:39 AM PST Reuters - SARAJEVO (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday extradited to Bosnia a Bosnian female ex-soldier suspected of murdering six Croatians in 1993 during a war that ripped the region apart, the prosecutor's office in Sarajevo said. Rasema Handanovic, a 39-year-old Muslim, was detained upon her arrival in Bosnia. She is suspected of taking part in the mass murder of Croatian civilians in Bosnia-Herzegovina in April 1993, when she was a member of the Bosnian army special unit known as "Zulfikar," the prosecutor's office said in a statement. ... Full Story Top 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. ... Full Story Top More than 2,500 freed in Cuba amnesty: rights group Tue,27 Dec 2011 10:16 AM PST Reuters - HAVANA (Reuters) - More than 2,500 Cuban prisoners have been released in recent days under a New Year's amnesty announced before a visit next spring by Pope Benedict XVI, a local human rights group said on Tuesday. Cuban President Raul Castro said last Friday that the ruling Council of State had granted amnesty to more than 2,900 common prisoners. Castro said the amnesty was a "humanitarian gesture" and had also "taken into account" an upcoming papal visit and requests by, among others, top Roman Catholic Church officials in Cuba and relatives of the prisoners. ... Full Story Top Syrian forces kill 15 on first day of Arab League mission Tue,27 Dec 2011 10:13 AM PST Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian security forces killed at least 15 people across the country on Tuesday, a rights group said, on the day Arab peace monitors began a mission to assess whether Damascus has ended a nine-month crackdown on protests against President Bashar al-Assad. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the toll included at least six people killed in the central city of Homs, where the monitors ran their first day of inspection. Full Story Top Growing poverty looms for next Mexican president Tue,27 Dec 2011 10:03 AM PST Reuters - MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - When President Felipe Calderon came to power five years ago, he pledged to cut rampant poverty in Mexico. Instead, millions more have joined the ranks of the poor. A battle over how to tackle poverty, which is blamed for stunting Mexico's economic development and fueling the rise of violent drug gangs, is already raging between candidates competing to succeed Calderon in a July presidential election. From left to right, they have vowed to find a way of addressing chronically weak tax revenues, a failing education system, and the vast concentration of wealth in few ... Full Story Top Analysis: Syria monitors have little time to prove credibility Tue,27 Dec 2011 09:58 AM PST Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - A monitoring mission to Syria that marks an unprecedented Arab intervention in a fellow Arab state may have just days to prove to skeptics it can be a credible witness to whether or not President Bashar al-Assad has halted a crackdown on protests. The monitors, who began touring Syria on Tuesday, are the cornerstone of an Arab peace plan that Damascus must heed if it wants to avoid creating a new context for broader international involvement, Arab diplomats and regional analysts say. ... Full Story Top Ruling party under pressure in Jamaica election Tue,27 Dec 2011 09:13 AM PST Reuters - KINGSTON (Reuters) - Jamaica's youngest-ever prime minister is battling to keep the ruling party in power on Thursday in a closely contested general election in one of the world's most indebted countries. Jamaica, like many small Caribbean countries, has struggled to recover from the global financial crisis and tame a towering debt load. According to the International Monetary Fund, it is one of five Caribbean countries that rank among the world's 13 most indebted nations. ... Full Story Top Factbox: Jamaica's elections and the economy Tue,27 Dec 2011 09:13 AM PST Reuters - (Reuters) - Jamaica holds general elections on Thursday with the ruling Jamaica Labour Party battling to retain power in the Caribbean country. Jamaica is one of the region's leading economies and a major Caribbean tourist destination. The following are key facts about Jamaica: * A former British colony, Jamaica won independence in 1962. It is the third largest Caribbean island after Cuba and the island of Hispaniola made up of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Jamaica's population is 2.8 million. * The Jamaican economy is largely dependent on tourism, remittances and the bauxite sector. ... Full Story Top Clinton concerned over democracy in Hungary: report Tue,27 Dec 2011 08:57 AM PST Reuters - BUDAPEST (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has voiced concerns over democratic freedom in Hungary in a letter to the prime minister, a local media said on Tuesday. A spokesman for Prime Minister Viktor Orban confirmed he had received a letter from Clinton, but did not disclose its contents. Orban's centre-right party scored a landslide victory in a 2010 election. Orban's government went on to pass measures critics say weaken institutions such as the Constitutional Court and meddle with press freedom. ... Full Story Top 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 India PM pleads for anti-graft law as protests resume Tue,27 Dec 2011 07:20 AM PST Reuters - NEW DELHI/MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's prime minister on Tuesday urged lawmakers to pass an anti-corruption bill criticized by activist Anna Hazare, who began a hunger strike in the financial hub of Mumbai saying the version pushed by the government doesn't go far enough. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government has been at the receiving end of middle-class frustration with everyday graft and multi-billion dollar scandals in Asia's No. 3 economy, a state of affairs that forced the government this summer to agree to pass anti-corruption legislation before the year ends. ... Full Story Top Syrians argue, plead with Arab monitors: video Tue,27 Dec 2011 07:09 AM PST Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - Angry Syrians crowded around Arab League monitors visiting their flashpoint city of Homs on Tuesday, shouting "We want international protection" as the team passed through bloodied and rubble-strewn streets. Activists have posted several video clips on YouTube of what appears to chronicle Arab League observers checking to see if Syria is implementing a peace plan calling on the government to withdraw troops from protest centers and end bloodshed. ... Full Story Top Profile: Syria's Homs a sectarian war zone as monitors arrive Tue,27 Dec 2011 07:07 AM PST Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - The ancient city of Homs has paid a shattering price for becoming the hub of revolt in Syria, stormed by tanks and neighborhoods laid low by sniper fire by the time the first international peace monitors arrived on Tuesday. Residents staying fearfully put in their homes reported seeing some army tanks pulling out of Syria's third largest city shortly before Arab League observers arrived, but many doubted they would do any good. ... Full Story Top Putin says Russian protesters seeking to sow chaos Tue,27 Dec 2011 06:58 AM PST Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that mass protests against his 12-year rule were being stoked by a hollow collection of leaderless opposition groups who wanted to sow chaos in Russia. In his first comments since Saturday's protest, Russia's prime minister said it was impossible to annul the December 4 parliamentary election - the opposition's key demand - but promised the March presidential vote, in which he is running, would be transparent. ... Full Story Top 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. ... Full Story Top Feisty Italy union chief stands between Monti and reform Tue,27 Dec 2011 06:38 AM PST Reuters - ROME (Reuters) - A formidable battle is taking shape over the future of Italy's labor market between Prime Minister Mario Monti, a detached, professorial economist and Susana Camusso, the pugnacious, chain-smoking leader of the country's largest trade union. After years of division the three main union confederations appear to have united against reforms Monti says are vital to regain financial markets' faith, and analysts say he must move fast while his popularity is high and the sense of emergency over Italy's debt crisis is acute. ... Full Story Top Peres urges Israelis to mobilize to thwart zealots Tue,27 Dec 2011 06:06 AM PST Reuters - JERUSALEM (Reuters) - President Shimon Peres urged Israelis on Tuesday to rally against ultra-Orthodox Jewish zealots trying to impose their strict religious code on a troubled town near Jerusalem. "We are fighting for the soul of the nation and the essence of the state," Peres said in broadcast remarks at an event at his official residence. The plight of an eight-year-old girl, who said last week that ultra-Orthodox men accused her of being dressed immodestly and spat at her as she walked to school, has added to growing concerns in Israel over a rise in religious extremism. ... Full Story Top U.S. citizen goes on trial in Iran on spying charges Tue,27 Dec 2011 06:04 AM PST Reuters - TEHRAN (Reuters) - An American man of Iranian descent, accused by Iran of spying for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, went on trial in Tehran on Tuesday, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. Iranian authorities announced Amir Mirza Hekmati's arrest earlier this month. State television has shown a taped interview with him in which Hekmati said he was a CIA agent. "In the indictment (read in court), Hekmati was charged with cooperating with the hostile government of America as well as spying for the CIA," Fars reported. ... Full Story Top Gunfire erupts as Syrians plead with Arab monitors in Homs:video Tue,27 Dec 2011 05:49 AM PST Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - Blasts of gunfire erupted in a video that activists said showed residents in Syria's protest hotbed city of Homs arguing and pleading with Arab League monitors to come further inside their district of Baba Amr, where fighting has been fierce. At the beginning of the video, sent by activists to Reuters, a resident yelled at one of the monitors, urging him to repeat his concerns about gunshots in the area on camera. As they spoke, a loud burst of gunfire went off in the background. http://link.reuters. ... Full Story Top Syrian forces use tear gas to stop protesters in Homs: group Tue,27 Dec 2011 05:43 AM PST Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian security forces fired tear gas at tens of thousands of protesters who were heading towards the centre of Syria's troubled city of Homs, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday. "There are at least 70,000 protesters. They are marching towards the city centre and the security forces are trying to stop them. They are firing tear gas," the Observatory's Rami Abdelrahman told Reuters. ... Full Story Top Afghanistan tells NATO to disband local force, may open rift Tue,27 Dec 2011 05:24 AM PST Reuters - KABUL (Reuters) - NATO is reviewing the activities of an irregular police force set up to bolster security mainly in the troubled north, the alliance said on Tuesday, following a call by the Afghan government that it be disbanded. The row over the Critical Infrastructure Protection program (CIP) launched in areas where there are not enough regular security forces threatens to open a new rift with President Hamid Karzai who sees them as parallel structures that undermine his authority. ... Full Story Top Pakistan president vows defiance as crises mount Tue,27 Dec 2011 04:45 AM PST Reuters - GARHI KHUDA BAKSH, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan's embattled but defiant President Asif Ali Zardari used the fourth anniversary of the death of his wife Benazir Bhutto to ensure supporters he would not resign in the face of numerous crises building around him. Zardari, who became president after the former prime minister was killed in 2007 following her return from self-imposed exile, is facing perhaps the greatest threat to the government. ... Full Story Top Insight: Violence creeping into Mexican capital Tue,27 Dec 2011 04:10 AM PST Reuters - MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - In a nation wracked by drug violence, this sprawling capital city of more than 20 million has been an oasis of relative peace. But the key to that calm - an informal truce among rival gangs - may be cracking. On a sunny afternoon this month, a group of gunmen drove into a slum in the north of Mexico City, the streets packed with shoppers and children leaving school. In plain sight, the killers lined three crack cocaine dealers against a wall and shot them in the head with AK-47 assault rifles. ... Full Story Top Egypt court ends virginity tests on female detainees Tue,27 Dec 2011 03:43 AM PST Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian court ordered on Tuesday that forced virginity tests be stopped on female detainees in military prisons. The case was filed by Samira Ibrahim, a woman who said the army forced her to undergo a virginity test in March after she was arrested during a protest in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Human rights organizations say that there have been many other such tests by the military. "The court orders that the execution of the procedure of virginity tests on girls inside military prisons be stopped," said judge Aly Fekry, head of Cairo Administrative court. ... 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