By Hadeel Al Shalchi TRIPOLI | Wed Nov 7, 2012 12:16pm EST TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi's former right-hand man is languishing in a Libyan jail with kidney cancer and no access to lawyers, his daughter said on Wednesday, calling for him to get a fair trial. Abdullah al-Senussi, who as spy chief was one of Libya's most feared men, fled the ...

By Margarita Antidze TBILISI | Wed Nov 7, 2012 12:15pm EST TBILISI (Reuters) - The Georgian government detained the army's chief-of-staff on Wednesday on suspicion of abuse of power, stepping up what the opposition says is a political witch hunt against President Mikheil Saakashvili's allies. New Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili's coalition ous...

By Sylvia Westall KUWAIT | Wed Nov 7, 2012 12:13pm EST KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwaiti opposition groups plan to stage a joint demonstration on Sunday against new voting rules as a standoff with the government intensifies ahead of an election on December 1. While opposition groups say the rules are a bid to skew the election, the government, so far sp...

By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS | Wed Nov 7, 2012 12:12pm EST UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Libya should not grant amnesty for war crimes committed during last year's uprising against former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, regardless of who committed them, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said on Wednesday. In her first of...

By Matt Spetalnick and Steve Holland WASHINGTON | Wed Nov 7, 2012 11:52am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fresh from a decisive re-election win, President Barack Obama returns from the campaign trail on Wednesday with little time to savor victory, facing urgent economic challenges, a looming fiscal showdown and a still-divided Congress able to block h...

BAGHDAD/ANKARA | Wed Nov 7, 2012 11:35am EST BAGHDAD/ANKARA (Reuters) - Two Iraqi civilians were killed and three wounded in a Turkish air strike in Iraqi Kurdistan during the latest operation targeting Kurdish PKK separatist rebels sheltering there, a Kurdistan official said on Wednesday. The strike on Tuesday hit a village near Rania, close to the remo...

By Njuwa Maina and Ben Makori KOGELO, Kenya | Wed Nov 7, 2012 11:14am EST KOGELO, Kenya (Reuters) - Kenyans in Barack Obama's ancestral homeland stayed up all night and danced with joy on Wednesday as America's first black president won a second term in the White House, raising the prospects of a fresh start for his ties with Africa. Many African...

By Robert Muller PRAGUE | Wed Nov 7, 2012 11:06am EST PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas won a confidence vote in parliament and pushed through tax rises on Wednesday after quelling a rebellion that threatened to bring down his center-right government. The lower house voted to raise value-added and income taxes in a move aimed at ...

By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES | Wed Nov 7, 2012 8:54am EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - As dusk sets on the "Twilight" saga with the final film, actor Taylor Lautner is looking at a new dawn for the next stage in his career. Lautner, 20, shot to fame after being cast as werewolf Jacob Black in the "Twilight" films, entangled in a torrid love triangle ...

Wed Nov 7, 2012 7:49am EST (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp agreed to buy from United States Cellular Corp its businesses in Chicago, St. Louis, Central Illinois and three other Midwest markets for $480 million in cash and the assumption of some liabilities. Sprint is acquiring personal communications service (PCS)spectrum, commonly used in mobile voice and data se...

By Alexandra Hudson BERLIN | Wed Nov 7, 2012 7:48am EST BERLIN (Reuters) - Two years in age separate Vladimir Putin, the German-speaking former KGB agent who spent five years in Dresden in East Germany's twilight years, from Angela Merkel, the Russian-speaking physicist who grew up near East Berli...

By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM | Wed Nov 7, 2012 7:41am EST JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces an even more awkward time with Washington and re-energized critics at home who accused him on Wednesday of backing the loser in the U.S. presidential election. With Iran topping his conservative agenda, Netanyahu will hav...

Wed Nov 7, 2012 7:39am EST (Reuters) - Democrats were on track to capture more state legislative seats than Republicans in Tuesday's election, as President Barack Obama's re-election spilled into local races, the National Conference of State Legislatures reported on Wednesday. "Democrats will almost certainly net more seats...

By Karolina Tagaris and Renee Maltezou ATHENS | Wed Nov 7, 2012 7:39am EST ATHENS (Reuters) - The Greek government overcame divisions on Wednesday to defeat an early challenge to an austerity package needed to secure vital international aid, but it still faced internal dissent and angry protests ahead of a final vote. Prime Minister Antonis Samar...

By Mohamed Ahmed MOGADISHU | Wed Nov 7, 2012 7:36am EST MOGADISHU (Reuters) - At least one person was killed on Wednesday when a car laden with explosives detonated in the car park of the country's parliament building in the capital Mogadishu, police said. The explosion went off while the country's new legislators were holding a session inside.Ge...

By Chris Wickham LONDON | Wed Nov 7, 2012 7:27am EST LONDON (Reuters) - The widening gap between the amount of data the world produces and our capacity to store it is giving a new lease of life to the humble cassette tape. Although consumers have abandoned the audio cassette in favor of the ubiquitous iPod, organizations with large amounts of dat...

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Mohammed Abbas AMMAN | Wed Nov 7, 2012 7:20am EST AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebels fired mortars at President Bashar al-Assad's palace in Damascus on Wednesday but missed, in an attack underlining the growing boldness of forces fighting to end his family's 42 years in power. Residents told Reuters the heavy-caliber shell...

By Mary Slosson and Gerry Shih SACRAMENTO/SAN FRANCISCO | Wed Nov 7, 2012 6:48am EST SACRAMENTO/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California Democrats appeared to be within striking distance of gaining a supermajority in both houses of the state legislature on Tuesday, crowning a sweeping election triumph for Governor Jerry Brown and his allies. A superm...

By David Bailey MINNEAPOLIS | Wed Nov 7, 2012 6:47am EST MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, known for controversial comments and a bid for the Republican presidential nomination, was projected to win re-election over Democratic challenger businessman Jim Graves early on Wednesday. Bachmann led Graves by 3,256 vo...

By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON | Wed Nov 7, 2012 6:45am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It may have been the most unpopular House of Representatives in modern times, but that did not stop voters on Tuesday from leaving it firmly in Republican hands, according to projections. While more than 18 incumbent House members from both parties were defeated, acco...

By John Whitesides and Steve Holland WASHINGTON | Wed Nov 7, 2012 6:27am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Emboldened by a resounding election victory, President Barack Obama immediately pledged to reach across America's political divide and seek deals on stubborn issues that dogged his first term. Obama scored a clear win over Republican challenger Mit...

TAIPEI | Wed Nov 7, 2012 6:25am EST TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group said on Wednesday the company's flagship Hon Hai unit is finding it difficult to cope with the massive demand for Apple Inc's iPhones. "It's not easy to make the iPhones. We are falling short of meeting the huge demand," Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou told reporters afte...

By Karolos Grohmann BERLIN | Wed Nov 7, 2012 6:13am EST BERLIN (Reuters) - Uzbek wrestler Soslan Tigiev who won a bronze medal at this year's London Olympics is likely to have it stripped after testing positive for banned substances, a source said on Tuesday. Tigiev, who was third in the men's freestyle 74kg category, tested positive for drugs du...

By Jennifer Dobner RENO, Nevada | Wed Nov 7, 2012 6:12am EST RENO, Nevada (Reuters) - Nevada Republican Dean Heller narrowly held on to his U.S. Senate seat on Tuesday in a closely watched race against Democratic Congresswoman Shelley Berkley, who became the target of a U.S. House of Representatives ethics probe earlier this year. Heller, 52, him...

By Terril Yue Jones BEIJING | Wed Nov 7, 2012 5:55am EST BEIJING (Reuters) - China's official media said on Thursday that ties with the United States were uneven in President Barack Obama's first term and mutual trust was "whittled down", but his re-election offered an opportunity to put the relationship back on track. A commentary issued by stat...

By Nick Carey COLUMBUS, Ohio | Wed Nov 7, 2012 5:20am EST COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - For a brief moment on Tuesday evening, it appeared that U.S. television networks might have called the presidential election too early for President Barack Obama as doubts crept in about whether the Democrat had won Ohio as TV networks projected. But despite quib...

By Tim Reid WASHINGTON | Wed Nov 7, 2012 5:12am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Growing optimism about the economy and a big turnout of the core Democratic coalition sealed President Barack Obama's re-election victory. After years of bleak economic news, enough Americans now believe better days lie ahead for the U.S. economy. The coalition of young, f...

By Jazmine Woodberry TUCSON, Arizona | Wed Nov 7, 2012 5:09am EST TUCSON, Arizona (Reuters) - A Republican challenger had a slight edge over Representative Ron Barber, a former aide to Gabrielle Giffords, in the race for a House of Representatives seat from Arizona, although the election was too close to call early on Wednesday. Barber, a 66-year...

By John O'Brien SINGAPORE | Wed Nov 7, 2012 4:47am EST SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Phil Mickelson is something of an American Ambassador when it comes to spreading the PGA Tour's influence in Asia and the left-hander is hopeful more events in the region can force their way onto the U.S. circuit. Back in Asia for the Singapore Open after competing at th...

STOCKHOLM | Wed Nov 7, 2012 4:44am EST STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Ericsson (ERICb.ST) is to cut 1,550 staff in Sweden as the world's biggest maker of mobile phone networks aims to drive down costs in an industry facing a global slowdown. Competition has pushed down telecom gear prices while global economic weakness has led to slower spending by operators, pre...

STOCKHOLM | Wed Nov 7, 2012 4:22am EST STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Telecoms gear maker Ericsson repeated on Wednesday it expected total restructuring charges of around 4 billion crowns ($597.21 million) in 2012 after it announced sweeping job cuts in Sweden. A spokeswoman for the company declined to give financial detail of a new cost-saving package, but repea...

By John O'Brien SINGAPORE | Wed Nov 7, 2012 3:34am EST SINGAPORE (Reuters) - World number one Rory McIlroy has defended his decision to skip last week's WGC-HSBC Champions tournament in China to watch his girlfriend play tennis but admits that the criticism of his no-show was fair. The Briton returns to action at this week's co-sanctioned Singapo...

By Sam Youngman WASHINGTON | Wed Nov 7, 2012 3:16am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama called it - in less than 140 characters. Around 11:15 pm EST, just as the networks were beginning to call the race in his favor, Obama took to Twitter to proclaim himself the winner over Republican candidate Mitt Romney."This happened because of ...

By Tim Kelly and Melanie Lee TOKYO/SHANGHAI | Wed Nov 7, 2012 2:02am EST TOKYO/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 has received a certification of quality from a Chinese safety standards body, sparking speculation that China will end a decade-old ban on home game consoles. China has banned video game consoles since 2000, citing a need ...

Wed Nov 7, 2012 1:12am EST (Reuters) - The Chicago Bulls dominated the start of the fourth quarter to beat the Orlando Magic 99-93 on Tuesday in a matchup of two teams trying to adjust to playing without last season's All Stars. Luol Deng scored eight of his team-high 23 in the fourth quarter where reserve Nate Robinson also provided a spark to quickly erase a th...

By Steve Keating Wed Nov 7, 2012 1:09am EST (Reuters) - The National Hockey League (NHL) and players union returned to the bargaining table for nearly eight hours on Tuesday in what is seen as a last ditch effort to hammer out a new labor deal and salvage a season. Having already canceled hundreds of regular season games along with its showcase event the ...

Tue Nov 6, 2012 8:16pm EST (Reuters) - Texas Rangers ace Yu Darvish will not play for Japan in the World Baseball Classic next year, saying on Tuesday he wants to focus on winning a World Series. "After much deliberation, which has included a lot of consultation with my coaches and trainers, I have decided that I will not play in the upcoming World Baseball Class...

Tue Nov 6, 2012 7:42pm EST (Reuters) - New Orleans Hornets head coach Monty Williams has been fined $25,000 by the National Basketball Association (NBA) for public criticism of the NBA's concussion policy, the league said on Tuesday. Williams was penalized for comments he made before Saturday's game against the Chicago Bulls when Hornets center Anthony Davis, the...

By Steve Holland and John Whitesides WASHINGTON | Tue Nov 6, 2012 6:49pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A neck-and-neck White House race reached a frantic conclusion on Tuesday as voters chose between President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney in a decision that will set the course for two starkly different visions for the country. ...

NEW YORK | Tue Nov 6, 2012 6:48pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Jersey voters displaced by Superstorm Sandy and emergency responders working on relief and recovery efforts will have until 8 p.m. on Friday (0100 GMT on Saturday) to fax or email their election ballots, authorities said on Tuesday. State authoriti...