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Arab mission to Syria to visit Homs Tuesday: source
Sun,25 Dec 2011 10:56 PM PST
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - The Arab League's monitoring team will start its mission in Syria by visiting the turbulent city of Homs on Tuesday, a source at the mission told Reuters. The first group of about 50 monitors, led by Sudanese General Mustafa Dabi, is expected to travel to Syria on Monday. It also will visit the capital Damascus, Hama and Edleb on Tuesday, the source said. (Reporting By Ayman Samir; Wirting by Tamim Elyan) Full Story | Top |
Head of Arab mission reaches Syria amid more unrest
Sun,25 Dec 2011 10:56 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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Suicide bomber kills 6 outside Iraq ministry
Sun,25 Dec 2011 10:29 PM PST
Reuters - BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide car bomber killed at least six people and wounded 31 when he detonated explosives in an attack on Iraq's interior ministry in Baghdad, police and hospital sources said on Monday. The blast followed Thursday's wave of explosions that killed at least 72 people in Baghdad in the first such attacks since a crisis erupted between Iraq's Shi'ite-led government and Sunni rivals just days after the last U.S. troops withdrew. ... Full Story | Top |
Japan, Myanmar to launch talks on investment pact: report
Sun,25 Dec 2011 10:21 PM PST
Reuters - TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan and Myanmar agreed on Monday to launch negotiations aimed at clinching a bilateral investment pact, Kyodo news reported, as the isolated nation gradually opens up after decades of tight military rule. Japan hopes to promote Myanmar's transition towards democracy through stronger ties, Kyodo said, as Myanmar's new civilian government, which took power in March, begins to implement political reforms and re-engage with the global community. ... Full Story | Top |
Japan urges China to help keep in check North Korea
Sun,25 Dec 2011 10:17 PM PST
Reuters -  BEIJING (Reuters) - Japan urged China on Monday to shoulder a big role in ensuring that North Korea avoids volatile moves despite uncertainties created by the death of Pyongyang's leader, Kim Jong-il. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda also nudged 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 weapons programme. ...
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China tests 500 kmph super high-speed train
Sun,25 Dec 2011 10:02 PM PST
Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - China launched a super-rapid test train over the weekend which is capable of travelling 500 kilometers per hour, state media said on Monday, as the country moves ahead with its railway ambitions despite serious problems on its high-speed network. The train, made by a subsidiary of CSR Corp Ltd, China's largest train maker, is designed to resemble an ancient Chinese sword, the official Xinhua news agency reported. It "will provide useful reference for current high-speed railway operations," it quoted train expert Shen Zhiyun as saying. ... Full Story | Top |
China jails dissident 10 years for "subversive" essays
Sun,25 Dec 2011 09:43 PM PST
Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - A court in China sentenced on Monday a veteran dissident, Chen Xi, to 10 years in jail for subversion, his wife said -- one of the heaviest sentences given for political charges since Nobel Prize winner Liu Xiaobo was jailed two years ago. The court in Guiyang, southwest China, swiftly tried Chen and declared him guilty of "inciting subversion of state power", and said he deserved a tough sentence of a decade in prison, his wife, Zhang Qunxuan, told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
Obamas go to church, dine in for Christmas in Hawaii
Sun,25 Dec 2011 07:01 PM 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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13 found dead in truck in eastern Mexico: local media
Sun,25 Dec 2011 06:26 PM PST
Reuters - MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Thirteen bodies were found in an abandoned truck in eastern Mexico on Sunday, local media reported, as a turf war between drug cartels spreads far from the border with the United States. The truck was found during a routine security patrol near the border between the eastern states of Veracruz, a major oil-producing region, and Tamaulipas, local media said, citing state officials. Messages left at the site suggested the dead were killed in a rivalry between criminal gangs, local media said. ... Full Story | Top |
Over half Japanese against sales tax hike; PM support falls
Sun,25 Dec 2011 05:44 PM PST
Reuters - TOKYO (Reuters) - More than half the Japanese public oppose a proposed doubling of the country's 5 percent sales tax by mid-decade, a newspaper poll showed on Monday, boding ill for the government's aim of fleshing out its plan on overhauling taxes by a self-imposed year-end deadline. The government is in the final stage of debate on sales tax hikes to pay for rising welfare costs, a step towards fiscal consolidation in a nation whose public debt is already twice the size of its $5 trillion economy. ... Full Story | Top |
Former South Korean first lady heads North for condolences
Sun,25 Dec 2011 05:23 PM 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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Islamists kill dozens in Nigeria Christmas bombs
Sun,25 Dec 2011 05:21 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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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 |
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 |
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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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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Japan PM tells China's Wen both want stable Korean peninsula
Sun,25 Dec 2011 03:03 PM PST
Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda told his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao on Sunday their two nations share an interest in preserving stability on the Korean peninsula after the death of Kim Jong-il, North Korea's long-time leader. "Peace and stability of the Korean peninsula is in a common interest for both Japan and China," Noda told Wen at the start of talks in Beijing, where Noda is on a two-day visit. ... 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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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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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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Reversal of fortune
Sun,25 Dec 2011 02:25 PM PST
Reuters -  SINGAPORE (Reuters) - While the threat of credit rating downgrades hangs over Europe, a few big emerging market economies are on the upswing. Indonesia provides arguably the starkest contrast. Fitch's upgrade of Indonesia's sovereign rating on December 15 restored it to investment grade status for the first time in 14 years. Back in 1997, when the Asian financial crisis exploded, the International Monetary Fund had to step in with a three-year loan worth $10.1 billion at the time. ...
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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 |
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 |
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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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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Iran says woman's stoning case might change to hanging
Sun,25 Dec 2011 12:12 PM PST
Reuters - TEHRAN (Reuters) - An Iranian woman sentenced to be stoned to death for adultery could be hanged instead, the students news agency ISNA reported. A court sentenced Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani to be stoned in 2006 but the sentence was suspended last year after an international outcry. However, under a judicial review being carried out she still could be hanged. "There is no rush ... ... Full Story | Top |
Analysis: Boko Haram bombings strike at Nigeria's faultlines
Sun,25 Dec 2011 11:57 AM PST
Reuters - LAGOS (Reuters) - Christmas Day bomb attacks against churches in Nigeria by Islamist militant group Boko Haram targeted the country's religious and ethnic faultlines in an apparently escalating campaign to fracture the nation's stability. The shadowy group from Nigeria's Muslim north, blamed for dozens of bombings and shootings in recent years, said it was responsible for a string of blasts, three of them in churches, including one that killed at least 27 people at a packed Christmas service on the outskirts of the capital Abuja. ... Full Story | Top |
White House: appears Nigeria attacks were terrorism
Sun,25 Dec 2011 11:42 AM PST
Reuters - HONOLULU (Reuters) - The White House condemned the violent attacks in Nigeria on Sunday, which it said appeared to be acts of terrorism. "We condemn this senseless violence and tragic loss of life on Christmas Day," the White House said in a statement released from Hawaii, where President Barack Obama is vacationing. "We have been in contact with Nigerian officials about what initially appear to be terrorist acts and pledge to assist them in bringing those responsible to justice," it said. (Reporting By Laura MacInnis; Editing by Eric Beech) Full Story | Top |
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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Prayers turn to rage after Nigeria church blasts
Sun,25 Dec 2011 09:54 AM PST
Reuters - ABUJA (Reuters) - Christmas prayers turned into rage, sadness and confusion on Sunday after explosions rocked several churches in Nigeria, killing at least 28 people. An angry crowd formed amidst the smoldering ash and twisted metal remains of cars outside St. Theresa Catholic Church near the capital Abuja, the first church hit, as a Christian cleric urged people not to take vengeance. "Go home and let the authorities do their work," Reverend Isaac Achi told the crowd. "I pray the people doing this will stop and repent. Do not become violent over this. ... 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 |
Iraqi political parties seek to resolve crisis
Sun,25 Dec 2011 09:11 AM PST
Reuters - BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi lawmakers tried on Sunday to negotiate an end to the country's worst political crisis in a year after Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki sought his Sunni vice president's arrest on charges he ran an assassination squad. U.S. officials, diplomats and politicians have been in a flurry of talks to calm a crisis that threat the ns 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. ... Full Story | Top |
Massive Khan rally defies Pakistan ruling party
Sun,25 Dec 2011 08:46 AM PST
Reuters - KARACHI (Reuters) - Pakistan's former cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan brought at least 100,000 people into the streets of Karachi Sunday in a massive rally that increases pressure on the civilian government and cements his standing as a political force. Khan, 59, is riding a wave of dissatisfaction with the government of President Asif Ali Zardari, who co-chairs the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP), and is facing challenges from the military, the supreme court and political opponents after a year of cascading crises. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt's military rulers study plan to speed up vote
Sun,25 Dec 2011 08:13 AM 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 on 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. ... Full Story | Top |
Bombs at Nigeria churches kill 27, attacks claimed by Islamists
Sun,25 Dec 2011 08:12 AM PST
Reuters -  ABUJA (Reuters) - Five bombs exploded on Christmas Day at churches in Nigeria, one killing at least 27 people, raising fears that Islamist militant group Boko Haram - which claimed responsibility - is trying to ignite sectarian civil war. Boko Haram, which wants to impose Islamic sharia law across a country of 160 million split roughly between Christians and Muslims, has increased the sophistication of the explosives it uses this year and has increased the number of its attacks. ...
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Powerful Darfur rebel chief dead, Sudan says
Sun,25 Dec 2011 07:37 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 |
Egypt's military rulers study plan to speed up vote
Sun,25 Dec 2011 07:36 AM 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 on 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. ... Full Story | Top |
Timeline: Ethnic and religious unrest in Nigeria
Sun,25 Dec 2011 06:50 AM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - Following is a timeline of religious and ethnic violence in Nigeria over the last 10 years: 2000 - Thousands killed in northern Nigeria as non-Muslims opposed to the introduction of sharia (Islamic law) fight Muslims who demand its implementation in state of Kaduna. September 2001 - Christian-Muslim violence flares after Muslim prayers in Jos, with churches and mosques set on fire. At least 1,000 people are killed, according to September 2002 report by a panel set up by Plateau state government. November 2002 - Nigeria abandons Miss World contest in Abuja. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt releases prominent blogger pending investigation
Sun,25 Dec 2011 06:48 AM PST
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian authorities released a prominent blogger detained on charges of inciting violence against the armed forces, a court source said on Sunday, adding that prosecutors were still investigating his case. Military prosecutors detained Alaa Abd El Fattah in October after deadly clashes broke out between the army and demonstrators in central Cairo. The detention has outraged activists who saw it as part of a broader crackdown. ... Full Story | Top |
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