Today's Reuters World News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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Two car bombs kill 12 in Iraq's capital: police
Wed,4 Jan 2012 11:18 PM PST
Reuters - BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 12 people were killed and 32 others wounded when two car bombs exploded in a mainly Shi'ite area in northwestern Baghdad, Iraqi police said Thursday. The blasts occurred in Kadhimiya district and followed two earlier explosions that killed 10 people and wounded 37 others in Sadr City, another mainly Shi'ite area in the capital. (Reporting by Kareem Raheem; Writing by Serena Chaudhry; Editing by Sophie Hares) Full Story | Top |
Family of U.S. soldier held by Taliban hopeful over Qatar deal
Wed,4 Jan 2012 10:43 PM PST
Reuters -  SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - The family of a U.S. soldier held captive by the Taliban for over two years said on Wednesday they were optimistic about the possibility of talks between the Afghan insurgent group and countries including the United States. They expressed hope that Bowe Bergdahl would be freed "as soon as possible" in a statement issued a day after the Taliban said they had reached a preliminary agreement to set up a political office in the Gulf Arab country of Qatar. ...
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Pakistani Taliban say kill 15 soldiers, vow further "revenge"
Wed,4 Jan 2012 10:23 PM PST
Reuters - PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - The Pakistani Taliban have killed 15 kidnapped troops in revenge for military operations against them near the Afghan border, a Taliban spokesman said Thursday, vowing further such attacks. Pakistani forces have targeted militants in the northwestern Khyber tribal region on and off for more than four years. "This is revenge for the killing of our comrades in Khyber by Pakistani forces," Ehsanullah Ehsan, a spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), told Reuters. "We will soon take revenge for other operations too. ... Full Story | Top |
Taiwan's Ma sets course for "10 golden years"
Wed,4 Jan 2012 09:17 PM PST
Reuters -  TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou was hailed last month by one of the island's richest businessmen as an "experienced, outstanding helmsman" who will steer the economy through the "10-metre, not one-meter, waves." The ringing endorsement by Terry Gou, the founder of the Foxconn electronics conglomerate, highlighted the successful side of Ma's policy of economic rapprochement with rival China, which has produced a landmark trade pact and a marked easing of tensions across the Taiwan strait. ...
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Landslide kills 25 in Philippine mining area
Wed,4 Jan 2012 09:09 PM PST
Reuters - MANILA (Reuters) - A landslide buried shanty houses in a mining area on a southern Philippine island, killing at least 25 people and leaving dozens missing, local disaster and security officials said on Thursday. The incident, the second one in Pantukan town in almost nine months, took place near the Kingking area on the southern island of Mindanao, said to be one of the world's largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits. Government officials said there had been cracks in the mountains, caused by earlier landslides, and rain over the past weeks could have loosened soil. ... Full Story | Top |
Prison fight in northern Mexico kills 31 inmates
Wed,4 Jan 2012 07:15 PM PST
Reuters -  RIO BRAVO, Mexico, Jan 4 (Reuters) - A fight between rival gangs inside a prison in northern Mexico left 31 inmates dead in the latest violence to erupt inside the country's overcrowded jails, local officials said on Wednesday. Clashes between prisoners wielding knives and homemade weapons started around mid-day and were controlled several hours later in Altamira, Tamaulipas, on Mexico's Gulf coast, said state government spokesman Guillermo Martinez. Thirteen other inmates were wounded, the state government said. Powerful drug cartels are fighting for control of smuggling routes along the U.S. ...
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Syrian activists say troop withdrawal is a sham
Wed,4 Jan 2012 05:08 PM PST
Reuters -  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Opposition activists say Syrian authorities are breaking their promises to withdraw troops from the streets of strife-torn towns, contradicting statements by Arab League peace monitors that government forces have pulled back. An Arab League mission arrived in Syria last week to verify whether the government was implementing a peace plan under which it agreed to scale back its military presence and free thousands of prisoners detained since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began last March. ...
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Argentina's Fernandez recovering well after surgery
Wed,4 Jan 2012 02:46 PM PST
Reuters -  PILAR, Argentina (Reuters) - Argentina's popular president, Cristina Fernandez, is recovering well after undergoing surgery for thyroid cancer on Wednesday, setting the stage for her return to work later this month. Fernandez's papillary carcinoma was detected during a routine medical checkup just before Christmas and there was no sign the disease had spread, government officials said. The cancer diagnosis came just months after the center-left leader easily won a second four-year term in office. Doctors have said the 58-year-old president has a better than 90 percent chance of recovery. ...
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Israel's Netanyahu nixes bill on naming top judges
Wed,4 Jan 2012 01:47 PM PST
Reuters -  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday withdrew proposed legislation seen by critics as unfairly favoring his rightist coalition, after being told by the attorney-general that a court would probably deem it as flawed, a spokesman said. If it had become law, the legislation would have allowed a change in the makeup of a committee of politicians and jurists that appoints Supreme Court judges, facilitating the naming of justices that right-wing lawmakers see as favorable to them. ...
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Exclusive: EU agrees to embargo on Iranian crude
Wed,4 Jan 2012 11:37 AM PST
Reuters -  BRUSSELS/TEHRAN (Reuters) - European governments have agreed in principle to ban imports of Iranian oil, EU diplomats said on Wednesday, dealing a blow to Tehran that crowns new Western sanctions months before an Iranian election. The prospective embargo by the European Union, along with tough U.S. financial measures signed into law by President Barack Obama on New Year's Eve, form a concerted Western campaign to hold back Iran's nuclear program. Iran says the program is strictly non-military, but Western countries say a November U.N. report shows it has sought to build an atomic bomb. ...
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Syrian activists: Government armor still inside cities
Wed,4 Jan 2012 11:14 AM PST
Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian opposition activists said on Wednesday that security forces still had armored vehicles stationed in city streets ready to act against protesters even though Arab League peace monitors said they had withdrawn. Opposition groups in the cities of Idlib in the north, central Homs and Deraa in the south said the army had hidden armor in dugouts and replaced tanks with blue armored vehicles said to belong to police forces. ... Full Story | Top |
Israel's religion minister fears Jewish divides
Wed,4 Jan 2012 11:11 AM PST
Reuters - JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli society could be torn apart if disputes between ultra-Orthodox and less observant Jews continue to heat up, Israel's religious affairs minister said on Wednesday. In a telephone interview, Yaacov Margy, who also serves as director-general of Shas, a religious party in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government, condemned an incident last month in which zealots seeking gender separation spat at a schoolgirl they accused of dressing immodestly. ... Full Story | Top |
Syrian activists: Government amour still inside cities
Wed,4 Jan 2012 11:10 AM PST
Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian opposition activists said on Wednesday that security forces still had armored vehicles stationed in city streets ready to act against protesters even though Arab League peace monitors said they had withdrawn. Opposition groups in the cities of Idlib in the north, central Homs and Deraa in the south said the army had hidden amour in dugouts and replaced tanks with blue armored vehicles said to belong to police forces. ... Full Story | Top |
Prosecutors accuse Mubarak over protesters' deaths
Wed,4 Jan 2012 10:39 AM PST
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian prosecutors sought Wednesday to prove Hosni Mubarak guilty of responsibility for the killings of protesters during the 2011 uprising, saying he had authorized the use of force. The ex-president, 83, his two sons, the former interior minister Habib el-Adly and six senior police officers face charges ranging from corruption to involvement in the deaths of around 850 protesters during the uprising that ended Mubarak's three decades in power. For the second day of three scheduled for this week in the hearing, Mubarak appeared in a courtroom cage reserved for the accused. ... Full Story | Top |
German president admits "grave mistake," won't resign
Wed,4 Jan 2012 10:05 AM PST
Reuters - BERLIN (Reuters) - German President Christian Wulff admitted in a television interview Wednesday that he made a "grave mistake" by trying to prevent a newspaper from publishing an embarrassing story about a home loan, but said he did nothing illegal and had no plans to resign. The scandal that has swirled around Wulff since mid-December risks becoming a major distraction for Chancellor Angela Merkel, who nominated him for the ceremonial but influential post in 2010. ... Full Story | Top |
Greece's Papandreou to step down as socialist leader
Wed,4 Jan 2012 09:35 AM PST
Reuters -  ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's former prime minister George Papandreou told his PASOK socialist party on Wednesday that he will step down as party leader and not seek re-election, a socialist deputy told Reuters. "He told us that he will resign as PASOK leader and that he will not run for prime minister again," said the deputy who attended a party meeting on the leadership succession. Papandreou, 59, stepped down as prime minister in November last year to make way for a new coalition government that would help Greece resolve its biggest financial crisis in decades. ...
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Iran says has way to work around EU oil ban threat
Wed,4 Jan 2012 09:31 AM PST
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Iran has alternatives in place to let it cope with a threatened European Union embargo on its oil and increased U.S. pressure, and plans to keep up exports of some 2.3 million barrels per day (bpd) this year, a senior Iranian oil official said. EU governments have reached a preliminary agreement to ban imports of Iranian crude to the European Union but have yet to decide when such an embargo would be put in place, EU diplomats said on Wednesday. Tehran had already considered different routes if that were to happen, S. M. ... Full Story | Top |
Analysis: Nuclear fuel test won't hasten Iran bomb: experts
Wed,4 Jan 2012 08:57 AM PST
Reuters -  VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran's latest claim of a breakthrough in its nuclear program seems unlikely to bring it any closer to having atomic bombs soon, but serves rather as another defiant message to the West. This week's announcement that Iran has successfully made and tested fuel rods for use in nuclear power plants appeared designed to show that sanctions are failing to halt its technical advances and to strengthen its hand in any renewed negotiations with the major powers. ...
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Turkey warns against Shi'ite-Sunni Cold War
Wed,4 Jan 2012 08:10 AM PST
Reuters -  ANKARA (Reuters) - Middle East powerhouse Turkey on Wednesday warned against a sectarian Cold War in the region and said rising Sunni-Shi'ite tensions would be "suicide" for the whole region. "Let me openly say that there are some willing to start a regional Cold War," Foreign Minster Ahmet Davutoglu told state-run Anatolian news agency before heading to Shi'ite Iran. "We are determined to prevent a regional Cold War. Sectarian regional tensions would be suicide for the whole region," Davutoglu said, adding such effects would last for decades. ...
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Instant view: U.S. and EU closer to banning Iranian oil
Wed,4 Jan 2012 07:53 AM PST
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - The United States and the European Union stepped up pressure on Iran on Wednesday with European diplomats agreeing in principle to ban Iranian oil imports and Washington sending its Treasury Secretary to Asia to discuss new sanctions. EU diplomats said the European Union governments reached a preliminary agreement to ban imports of Iranian crude but had yet to decide when such an embargo would be put in place. ... Full Story | Top |
"Alarming malnutrition" in Sudan conflict zones: U.N.
Wed,4 Jan 2012 07:16 AM PST
Reuters -  KHARTOUM (Reuters) - The United Nations has received alarming reports of malnutrition in two Sudanese border states where the army is fighting insurgents, a senior U.N. official said on Wednesday. Fighting broke out in June between the Sudanese army and SPLM-North rebels in South Kordofan and spread in September to the state of Blue Nile. Both states border newly independent South Sudan. The violence has already forced about 417,000 people to flee their homes, more than 80,000 of them to South Sudan, the United Nations estimates. ...
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Myanmar freed only 12 political prisoners, group says
Wed,4 Jan 2012 04:46 AM PST
Reuters -  YANGON (Reuters) - Only a fraction of the estimated hundreds of political detainees in Myanmar were among about 900 prisoners released this week, a leading pro-democracy group said Wednesday, in an amnesty by a nominal civilian government trying to end decades of economic sanctions. Around a dozen political detainees out of as many as 600 were released, Naing Naing, a senior official from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Party told Reuters. ...
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Wegelin braced for U.S. legal fight as staff charged
Wed,4 Jan 2012 04:41 AM PST
Reuters - ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss private bank Wegelin & Co confirmed on Wednesday three employees had been charged by U.S. authorities for helping U.S. taxpayers hide some $1.2 billion in assets from tax authorities. Wegelin said it had prepared its legal assessment of the matter ahead of the expected proceedings. "Although U.S. law has some scope for interpretation in this case, Wegelin & Co is certain that Swiss law was not broken at any point ... The accused employees worked for the bank within the borders of Switzerland," Wegelin said in an emailed statement to Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
Stephen Lawrence murderers get life jail
Wed,4 Jan 2012 04:40 AM PST
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - A judge sentenced Gary Dobson and David Norris to life in prison on Wednesday for the 1993 murder of 18-year-old black teenager Stephen Lawrence, a landmark case that exposed what an inquiry called "institutional racism" in the Metropolitan Police. Judge Colman Treacy ruled that Dobson should serve a minimum 15 years and two months and Norris 14 years and three months. "This was a terrible and evil crime," he told a packed courtroom at the Old Bailey. "This crime was committed for no other reason than racial hatred. ...
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Merkel to hold talks with Monti in Berlin next week
Wed,4 Jan 2012 02:53 AM PST
Reuters -  BERLIN (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti will travel to Berlin next Wednesday to hold talks on the euro zone crisis with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the German government announced. "The talks will focus on bilateral and international themes, the situation in the euro zone as well as economic developments in Europe," the government said in a statement. Merkel is due to host French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday, two days before Monti, to prepare a European summit planned for the end of the month. (Reporting by Noah Barkin)
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Mass grave found in Afghan army compound: officials
Wed,4 Jan 2012 02:27 AM PST
Reuters - DEH DADI, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A mass grave containing at least 10 human skulls was discovered in northern Afghanistan by construction workers digging the earth to build a car park in an army compound, Afghan officials said on Wednesday. The discovery of the grave Tuesday in the northern Balkh province in the Deh Dadi district near the site of a major battle during the country's bloody civil war of the early 1990s is yet another reminder of the country's turbulent past. ... Full Story | Top |
China says Xinjiang kidnappers were on "holy war"
Wed,4 Jan 2012 01:22 AM PST
Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Wednesday that seven people killed by police in the restive far western region of Xinjiang last week had been trying to leave the country to wage "holy war" and had kidnapped some herders on their way to the border. The kidnappers took two people hostage late last Wednesday in Pishan County in the far southern part of Xinjiang, close to the borders of India and Pakistan, state media reported. Seven of the suspects were shot dead and four were wounded and caught, while the two hostages were freed. One policeman was also killed, state media said. ... Full Story | Top |
North Korea military strategy superior, says think-tank
Wed,4 Jan 2012 12:29 AM PST
Reuters -  SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's military strategy is superior to the defensive posture of its affluent neighbor to the South, an independent think-tank said on Wednesday, giving Pyongyang the edge in the early days of any war on the divided peninsula. The Seoul-based Korea Economic Research Institute said in a report that in 2011 North Korea operated a 1.02-million-strong army and a record number of tanks, warships and air defense artillery. Total military personnel strength is 1.2 million. ...
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Perry may drop presidential bid after Iowa
Tue,3 Jan 2012 10:41 PM PST
Reuters -  DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Texas Governor Rick Perry, seen just months ago as a strong contender to become the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, said he would reassess his White House bid after a distant fifth place showing in Tuesday's Iowa caucuses. "I have decided to return to Texas, assess the results of tonight's caucus to determine whether there is a path forward for myself in this race," Perry, who had led polls of Republican presidential candidates after he jumped into the race in August but committed a series of gaffes on the campaign trail, told supporters. ...
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China claims success in curbing racy entertainment
Tue,3 Jan 2012 07:15 PM PST
Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - A campaign to curb "excessive entertainment" by slashing the number of racy programs on Chinese satellite television channels has been successful, state media reported, after President Hu Jintao warned Western culture was out to attack China. The broadcast regulator ordered the two-thirds cutback in October, taking particular aim at dating and talent shows, programs featuring "emotional stories" and those of "low taste. ... Full Story | Top |
Syrian rebel leader threatens to escalate attacks
Tue,3 Jan 2012 06:20 PM PST
Reuters -  BEIRUT (Reuters) - The commander of Syria's armed rebels has threatened to step up attacks on President Bashar al-Assad's forces, saying he was frustrated with Arab League monitors' lack of progress in ending a government crackdown on protests. "If we feel they (the monitors) are still not serious in a few days, or at most within a week, we will take a decision which will surprise the regime and the whole world," the head of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), Colonel Riad al-Asaad, told Reuters in an interview. ...
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No breakthrough on Mideast peace, talks to go on
Tue,3 Jan 2012 02:47 PM PST
Reuters -  AMMAN (Reuters) - Israeli and Palestinian negotiators made no breakthrough during their first high-level discussions in more than a year on Tuesday, but agreed to hold further talks in Amman on a confidential basis, Jordan's foreign minister said. Tuesday's talks were aimed at agreeing terms under which the two sides' leaders - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - could resume talks. Negotiations foundered in late 2010 after Israel refused to renew a partial freeze on Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, as demanded by the Palestinians. ...
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Egypt economic measures seen possible benchmarks: IMF
Tue,3 Jan 2012 02:12 PM PST
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday it was still discussing with Egyptian authorities the timing of the IMF mission's visit, adding that economic measures the government had published in June represent possible benchmarks for funding. "We are still discussing with the authorities the exact timing of a mission," the IMF said in a statement released to Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
Battle between Tripoli, Misrata militias kills 4
Tue,3 Jan 2012 01:35 PM PST
Reuters -  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Four fighters were killed in a gun battle between Libyan militias in one of Tripoli's busiest streets on Tuesday, a fresh sign that its new government is struggling to control the increasingly fractious groups that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi. Former rebels from Tripoli controlling a security compound in the capital fought off dozens of fighters from Misrata who were trying to seize a group of prisoners in a gun battle that lasted for more than an hour, medics and former rebels said. ...
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Israeli government accused of curbing court independence
Tue,3 Jan 2012 12:49 PM PST
Reuters -  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's conservative government came under attack on Tuesday for promoting legislation that critics said would weaken the independence of Israel's judiciary. Parliament on Monday passed a government-backed amendment that paves the way for a judge perceived by right-wing lawmakers as an ally to be appointed chief of the Supreme Court. In a country that does not have a constitution, the Supreme Court is widely respected as an independent-minded watchdog over the legislature and guarantor of civil rights. ...
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Libya names new head of armed forces
Tue,3 Jan 2012 12:48 PM PST
Reuters -  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's transitional authority on Tuesday named Yousef al-Manqoush, a retired general from a bastion of rebels who overthrew Muammar Gaddafi, as the new armed forces chief in the first significant move to build a new Libyan military. The appointment was announced as four fighters were killed in a gunbattle between rival militias in Tripoli on Tuesday, underlining the new government's struggle to control the increasingly fractious groups who toppled Gaddafi. ...
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U.S. says Egypt stalemate on NGOs "unacceptable"
Tue,3 Jan 2012 10:49 AM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Tuesday Egypt's failure to resolve a stand-off over U.S.-backed non-governmental organizations was "unacceptable" and blamed hold-overs from the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak for the crackdown. "We had been assured by leaders within the Egyptian government that this issue would be resolved ... it is frankly unacceptable to us that that situation has not been returned to normal," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. signals support for new Afghan-Taliban peace moves
Tue,3 Jan 2012 10:38 AM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will support Afghan-led efforts to reach a negotiated end to the war with the Taliban, including a possible Taliban political office in the Gulf state of Qatar if that is agreed by all sides, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the United States had not received any formal notification of a Taliban plan to open an office in Qatar, but that it would be willing to consider backing such a plan if it contributed to the goal of an Afghan peace deal. ... Full Story | Top |
Taliban plan office in Qatar, to improve "understanding"
Tue,3 Jan 2012 10:38 AM PST
Reuters - KABUL (Reuters) - The Afghan Taliban said Tuesday they have reached a preliminary agreement to set up a political office in the Gulf nation of Qatar, and asked for the release of prisoners held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay. ... Full Story | Top |
Three explosions kill 11 in southern Afghanistan
Tue,3 Jan 2012 10:36 AM PST
Reuters - KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Three separate explosions killed 11 people and wounded dozens of others in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province on Tuesday, officials said, the latest in a series of attacks in the volatile region. In the first attack, four children and a policeman were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a police checkpoint in Kandahar city, said Zalmay Ayoubi, a spokesman for the Kandahar governor. "The bomber was on a motorbike and detonated his explosives before reaching his target," he told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
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