Today's Reuters World News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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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 |
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 |
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 |
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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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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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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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 |
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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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 |
22 feared dead in India Christmas boat capsize
Sun,25 Dec 2011 09:02 AM PST
Reuters - CHENNAI, India (Reuters) - Up to 22 Christmas vacationers in India were feared dead after a boat capsized on a lake near the southern city of Chennai Sunday afternoon, government officials said. The accident happened in Pulicat, a tourist spot about 70 kilometers (43 miles) north of Chennai, when a family of 25 went on a boat ride, Ashish Chatterjee, the top government official in Tiruvallur district of the southern Tamil Nadu state, told Reuters. "Three survived and eight bodies have been recovered so far," Chatterjee said, adding search was on to find more bodies. (Reporting by S. Murari) 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 |
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 |
Suicide bomb kills at least 20 in northern Afghanistan
Sun,25 Dec 2011 06:26 AM PST
Reuters - TALOQAN, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least 20 people, including a member of parliament, and wounded 50 in Afghanistan's northern city of Taloqan on Sunday, police said, the latest in a series of attacks in a once-peaceful region. The attack occurred while prayers were being read at the funeral of an influential tribal leader. All victims were civilians. "People were gathering for a funeral when a suicide bomber detonated himself," Mahmod al-Hussain, a senior police detective for the northern Takhar province, told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
Moldovan rebel region votes in presidential run-off
Sun,25 Dec 2011 05:25 AM PST
Reuters -  CHISINAU (Reuters) - Moldova's breakaway Transdniestria region voted on Sunday in the second round of a presidential election that pits a popular politician against a candidate backed by Russia. Parliament member Yevgeny Shevchuk received 38.5 percent of the vote in the first round on December 11, followed by parliament speaker Anatoly Kaminsky with 26.4 percent. President Igor Smirnov, who has run the mainly Russian-speaking territory as an independent fiefdom since it broke from Moldova and fought a brief separatist war against Moldovan forces in 1992, was voted out as he came third. ...
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Girl's plight deepens Israel debate on zealot Jews
Sun,25 Dec 2011 05:03 AM PST
Reuters - JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stepped up pledges to curb Jewish zealotry in Israel on Sunday after an 8-year-old girl complained of being menaced by ultra-Orthodox men who deemed her dress immodest. While his conservative government insists such incidents are fringe phenomena in the mostly secular country, Netanyahu's repeated announcements on the matter reflected concern about widening religious and political schisms. ... Full Story | Top |
China to try another dissident for "subversive" online essays
Sun,25 Dec 2011 04:36 AM PST
Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - China will try a veteran dissident, Chen Xi, on charges of "inciting subversion" for pro-democracy essays he published online, his wife said on Sunday, days after another dissident was jailed for nine years on similar charges. Chen, a human rights campaigner in Guiyang city in Guizhou, southwest China, was arrested last month and will be tried for "inciting subversion of state power," a charge often used against critics of the ruling Communist Party, said his wife Zhang Qunxuan. ... Full Story | Top |
UK's ailing Prince Philip misses royal Christmas
Sun,25 Dec 2011 03:23 AM PST
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - Queen Elizabeth's 90-year-old husband spent Christmas Day in a hospital bed after successful surgery to clear a blocked heart artery, missing the royal family's celebrations at its rural Sandringham estate in eastern England. Buckingham Palace said Prince Philip, Britain's longest serving consort, was in "good spirits" when the Queen and other royals visited him on Saturday, but he was also said to be eager to leave. ...
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Pakistan information minister withdraws resignation
Sun,25 Dec 2011 02:10 AM PST
Reuters - ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's information minister withdrew her resignation on Sunday, hours after she offered to quit amid tensions between the civilian government and the country's powerful military over a memo alleging an army plot to seize power in May. Information Minister Firdos Ashiq Awan made the surprise announcement at a televised cabinet meeting but Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani later persuaded her to withdraw resignation. ... Full Story | Top |
Analysis: Russia's Putin risks losing touch amid protests
Sun,25 Dec 2011 01:38 AM PST
Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin is looking increasingly out of touch in Russia after the opposition brought tens of thousands of people out onto the streets of Moscow for the second time in two weeks to demand a parliamentary election be re-run. But the looming New Year holiday in Russia means there is likely to be a pause in the biggest opposition protests since he rose to power 12 years ago and he will hope they will now at least temporarily lose momentum. ... Full Story | Top |
Iran rejects U.S. allegation on al Qaeda operative
Sun,25 Dec 2011 01:15 AM PST
Reuters - TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran rejected as "completely baseless" U.S. allegations that it was harboring an al Qaeda member who is accused of operating as a facilitator and financier for the group from the Islamic Republic, the semi-official Fars news agency reported Sunday. The United States announced Thursday that it was establishing a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to Syrian-born Yasin al-Suri, who is also known as Ezedin Abdel Aziz Khalil. ... Full Story | Top |
Japan to ask Myanmar to join bilateral pact: Kyodo
Sat,24 Dec 2011 08:04 PM PST
Reuters - TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's foreign minister will suggest that Myanmar enter negotiations on a bilateral investment accord when he holds talks with the country's top officials next week, Kyodo News reported Sunday. The talks would mark another step as Myanmar gradually reconnects with the rest of the world after decades of tight military rule. A series of reforms have been initiated by President Thein Sein aimed at pushing for the lifting of decades of Western sanctions and attracting much-needed foreign investment in the country formerly known as Burma. ... Full Story | Top |
Yemen's Saleh vows to leave, troops kill 9 protesters
Sat,24 Dec 2011 07:20 PM PST
Reuters -  SANAA (Reuters) - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said on Saturday he would leave for the United States and give way to a successor, hours after his forces killed nine people demanding he be tried for killings over nearly a year of protests aimed at his ouster. But Saleh, who agreed to step down last month under a deal cut by his wealthier neighbors who fear civil war in Yemen will affect them, did not say when he would depart and vowed to play a political role again, this time opposed to a new government. ...
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Christmas pilgrims pray for peace in Bethlehem
Sat,24 Dec 2011 02:21 PM PST
Reuters -  BETHLEHEM, West Bank (Reuters) - Thousands of foreign pilgrims and Palestinian Christians, some in Santa hats, gathered at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity Saturday to pray for peace at the place where Jesus was born. Loudspeakers blared carols in Arabic and a Palestinian cleric in a festive purple robe pleaded for peace in the Holy Land and in the wider Middle East. "We ask the baby of Bethlehem to give us the peace we really need, peace in all the countries of the Middle East. We demand peace in the Holy Land," said Latin Patriarch Fuad al-Tuwal. ...
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Mourning Syrians rally for Assad, U.N. condemns bombs
Sat,24 Dec 2011 02:07 PM PST
Reuters -  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Funerals for 44 people killed in twin suicide car bombs in Damascus turned into a show of support for President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday, with thousands of mourners denouncing the United States and its Arab allies for interfering in Syria. The United Nations voiced grave concern over the bombings, which marked an ominous step up in the violence that has rocked the Arab nation for nine months, claiming at least 5,000 lives. Syria said al Qaeda terrorists were behind the attacks. The media displayed gruesome pictures of dismembered bodies and heads. ...
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Iraq Sunni leader says charges could reignite sectarian war
Sat,24 Dec 2011 12:49 PM PST
Reuters -  QALACHOWLAN, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, wanted on charges he led death squads, called the case a plot to destroy opponents of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that could reignite the sectarian slaughter of 2006-07. Iraq has been plunged into a political crisis in the week since the final U.S. troops withdrew, after Maliki's Shi'ite-led government unveiled an arrest warrant for Hashemi, who left Baghdad for the semi-autonomous Kurdish north of the country. ...
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Grenade attack hits northeastern Kenyan district: police
Sat,24 Dec 2011 11:32 AM PST
Reuters - NAIROBI (Reuters) - A grenade blast hit a club frequented by civil servants and aid workers in Wajir district in north eastern Kenya near the Somali border Saturday, police said, and Kenyan television reported seven people had been wounded. "Ngamia club has been attacked and hit by a grenade. No death has been reported but people were injured. They have been taken to hospital," North Eastern police commander Leo Nyongesa told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
Bahrain says to drop free-speech cases after protests
Sat,24 Dec 2011 10:51 AM PST
Reuters - DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahrain said on Saturday it would drop charges against 343 people whose offences were linked to free speech, but the opposition said that was just a portion of those detained on such accusations during pro-democracy protests this year. The Sunni-led Gulf kingdom, under pressure to improve its rights record to secure a U.S. arms deal, has said it would follow the recommendations of a state-appointed commission which found evidence of widespread abuse in the crackdown against the protests by majority Shi'ite Muslims. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt Islamists take two-thirds of 2nd-round vote
Sat,24 Dec 2011 10:06 AM PST
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's two leading Islamist parties won about two-thirds of votes for party lists in the second round of polling for a parliament that will help draft a new constitution after decades of autocratic rule, the election committee said Saturday. The party list led by the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) won 36.3 percent of the list vote, while the ultra-conservative Salafi al-Nour Party took 28.8 percent, pushing the liberal Wafd party into third place. ... Full Story | Top |
French health minister wants implant boss found
Sat,24 Dec 2011 09:45 AM PST
Reuters -  PARIS (Reuters) - France's health minister called on Saturday for the head of the breast implant maker accused of selling faulty prostheses to tens of thousands of women around the world to be found, calling the growing scandal a "shady business." Jean-Claude Mas, 72, the founder and CEO of French company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) has not been seen or heard of in public since the scandal broke, potentially affecting 300,000 women around the world. ...
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Yemen's Saleh says to go to U.S., let government function
Sat,24 Dec 2011 08:44 AM PST
Reuters -  SANAA (Reuters) - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said on Saturday he would go to the United States in order to allow an interim government to prepare for an election to replace him, but did not specify when he would leave. Saleh, speaking to reporters after forces loyal to him fired at protesters demanding he face trial for killing demonstrators over 11 months of protests, said he had no designs on staying in power. "I will go to the United States. ...
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Former South Korean first lady to go North to mark Kim's death
Sat,24 Dec 2011 07:35 AM PST
Reuters -  SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea said on Saturday a former first lady and the chairwoman of the giant Hyundai business conglomerate will be permitted to cross into North Korea next week to join ceremonies marking the death the North's leader, Kim Jong-il. A spokesman for the South Korean Unification Ministry said Lee Hee-ho, the widow of late president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kim Dae-jung, will lead a 13-member delegation for a two-day trip from Monday. Kim died a week ago. ...
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Gaza's thriving tunnel imports unleash building boom
Sat,24 Dec 2011 07:31 AM PST
Reuters - GAZA (Reuters) - At last, Nael Zeyara has a steady job in construction, thanks to the smuggling of cement through Gaza's network of tunnels to Egypt, an underground supply line that boosts the Israeli-blockaded enclave and creates jobs. Zeyara, 30, has been out of work for four years. "I lead a tough life with a wife and four children in a rented house," Zeyara told Reuters as he worked. "Six or seven months ago I got my job back when supplies began to flow again," he said. Zeyara earns about $19 a day. ... Full Story | Top |
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