By Tamim Elyan and Marwa Awad CAIRO | Wed Dec 12, 2012 9:11am EST CAIRO (Reuters) - Efforts to resolve Egypt's rapidly worsening political crisis suffered a blow on Wednesday when the army abruptly postponed "unity" talks that the opposition had minutes earlier said they would attend. Confirmation that the secular, liberal opposition coalition wo...

By Manuel Mogato MANILA | Wed Dec 12, 2012 8:33am EST MANILA (Reuters) - U.S. and Philippine officials are expected to agree on an increase in the number of U.S. military ships, aircraft and troops rotating through the Philippines, Filipino officials said, as tensions simmer with China over its maritime claims. Though he made no direct reference ...

JOHANNESBURG | Wed Dec 12, 2012 7:55am EST JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Former South African President Nelson Mandela is recovering from a lung infection that has kept the 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader in hospital for the last five days, the government said on Wednesday. "Doctors attending to former President Mandela have reported that he has made progre...

By Phil Stewart KABUL | Wed Dec 12, 2012 7:34am EST KABUL (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta arrived on an unannounced visit to Kabul on Wednesday for talks with military commanders ahead of a decision on how large a U.S. military presence to keep in the country after the NATO mission ends in 2014. Panetta has not disclosed how large...

By Lee Chyen Yee HONG KONG | Wed Dec 12, 2012 2:59am EST HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese mobile phone makers chasing market share with lower prices in the world's biggest smartphone market will see their margins continue to be pressured as they upgrade to quad-core chips to satisfy demand from users for faster speeds and flashier graphics. Most sma...

CONAKRY | Tue Dec 11, 2012 11:18am EST CONAKRY (Reuters) - Two people died and several others were injured in overnight clashes in Guinea between opposition militants and government supporters, a police source and witnesses said on Tuesday. The violence in the town of Gueckedou, around 700 km (420 miles) from ...

By Yasmine Saleh and Marwa Awad CAIRO | Tue Dec 11, 2012 11:18am EST CAIRO (Reuters) - A vital $4.8 billion International Monetary Fund loan to Egypt will be delayed until next month, its finance minister said on Tuesday, intensifying the political crisis gripping the Arab world's most populous nation. As rival factions gathered in Cairo and Alex...

By Dominic Evans BEIRUT | Tue Dec 11, 2012 11:14am EST BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels clashed with forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad near Damascus airport on Tuesday, battling for the capital's outskirts after 20 months of conflict which the United Nations said has driven half a million people from the country. Fighting near the airport...

By Daren Butler ISTANBUL | Tue Dec 11, 2012 11:12am EST ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's decade-old battle with secularist opponents in Turkey is approaching a decisive moment as nearly 300 people charged with attempting the violent overthrow of his government prepare their fin...

By Barry Moody ROME | Tue Dec 11, 2012 11:09am EST ROME (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi's decision to stand in Italian elections increases the risk of a large populist bloc in parliament that could severely hinder attempts to continue the legacy of outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti. Monti, the man foreign governments and investors desperately wan...

By Andrew Cawthorne and Marianna Parraga CARACAS | Tue Dec 11, 2012 11:02am EST CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez underwent surgery in Cuba on Tuesday for a recurrence of cancer that has thrown his future into jeopardy and upended politics in the South American OPEC nation. "My dear friend and colleague, Comandante Hugo Chavez,...

By Tshepo Tshabalala JOHANNESBURG | Tue Dec 11, 2012 10:53am EST JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Former South African President Nelson Mandela, who is 94 and has been in hospital since Saturday for tests, has suffered a recurrence of a lung infection but is responding to treatment, the government said on Tuesday. The revered anti-apartheid leader and No...

By Tiemoko Diallo and Adama Diarra BAMAKO | Tue Dec 11, 2012 10:51am EST BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's prime minister was forced to resign on Tuesday by the soldiers who staged a coup in March, complicating international efforts to help push Islamists from the north of the country. Once a beacon of democracy in West Africa, Mali has been mired in cri...

By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN | Tue Dec 11, 2012 10:32am EST AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan's King Abdullah ordered the release of more than one hundred protesters detained after calling for his downfall during last month's fuel price riots, officials said. The king pardoned the protesters after meeting with tribal leaders, who demanded their release an...

RIO DE JANEIRO | Tue Dec 11, 2012 9:29am EST RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva knew about and used funds from a far-reaching vote-buying scheme to pay for personal expenses, according to testimony by a convicted former consultant to the ruling Workers' Party. The testimony, reported on Tuesday by the Estado d...

TOKYO | Mon Dec 10, 2012 7:36pm EST TOKYO (Reuters) - Hawkish former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its smaller coalition partner are on track for a resounding victory in Sunday's election, winning more than 300 seats in the 480-member lower house, media surveys showed on Tuesday. The Sankei and Mainichi newspap...

By Louis Charbonneau NEW YORK | Mon Dec 10, 2012 6:36pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the United Nations on Monday calling for an end to Chinese rule in Tibet, where dozens of Tibetans have set themselves on fire in recent weeks to protest China's control of their homeland. The "Solidarity Rally for Tibet" c...

By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS | Mon Dec 10, 2012 5:55pm EST UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Northern Mali, plagued by Islamist extremists and gripped by an aid disaster, is "one of the potentially most explosive corners of the world," the United Nations warned on Monday, as the United States and France differed over how to tackle the crisis. Almo...

By Andrew Cawthorne and Brian Ellsworth CARACAS | Mon Dec 10, 2012 5:45pm EST CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez flew to Cuba on Monday for cancer surgery, with a vow to return quickly despite conceding for the first time that the disease could end his 14-year rule of the South American OPEC nation. "I leave full of hope. We are...

By David Alexander WASHINGTON | Mon Dec 10, 2012 5:34pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Attacks by Taliban insurgents rose slightly during the main part of the Afghan fighting season this year as some U.S. forces withdrew and the transition to a lead role for Afghan security forces picked up pace, according to a Pentagon report released on Monday. The...

CAIRO | Mon Dec 10, 2012 5:32pm EST CAIRO (Reuters) - Opponents and supporters of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi's plans to vote on a new constitution will take to the streets in central Cairo later on Tuesday, risking more violent confrontation after last week's deadly clashes. Leftists, liberals and other opposition groups have called for marches to ...

By Tife Owolabi and Tim Cocks OGWASHI-UKU/ABUJA | Mon Dec 10, 2012 5:21pm EST OGWASHI-UKU/ABUJA (Reuters) - The family of Nigeria's finance minister made an emotional appeal for kidnappers to free her 82-year-old mother on Monday, saying the elderly woman was in fragile health. Kamene Okonjo, mother of Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was ab...

JERUSALEM | Mon Dec 10, 2012 4:06pm EST JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Iran is getting ever closer to being able to build a nuclear bomb and the problem will have to be confronted in 2013, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday. Israeli officials would like the United States to take the lead in a military assault on Iran's nuclear sites, but say...

By Mariam Karouny BEIRUT | Mon Dec 10, 2012 3:31pm EST BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels expect greater military help from Gulf Arab states after they announced a new command structure which aims finally to unite President Bashar al-Assad's armed opponents, rebel commanders said on Monday. Rebel fighters have made gains across the country in the l...

By John Mkhize PRETORIA | Mon Dec 10, 2012 1:43pm EST PRETORIA (Reuters) - Nelson Mandela, the 94-year-old former South African president and revered anti-apartheid leader, is to undergo more tests in hospital on Monday after having a good rest on his second night in the facility, the government said. A statement from the office of President Jaco...

By Alistair Lyon and Yasmine Saleh CAIRO | Mon Dec 10, 2012 9:11am EST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Islamist president has given the army temporary power to arrest civilians to help secure a constitutional referendum seen by the Muslim Brotherhood as a triumph for democracy and by its liberal foes as a religious straitjacket. President Mohamed Mursi...

By John Mkhize PRETORIA | Mon Dec 10, 2012 9:10am EST PRETORIA (Reuters) - Nelson Mandela, the 94-year-old former South African president and revered anti-apartheid leader, is to undergo more tests in hospital on Monday after having a good rest on his second night in the facility, the government said. A statement from the office of President Jaco...

BEIRUT | Mon Dec 10, 2012 9:07am EST BEIRUT (Reuters) - War-ravaged Syria's economy will shrink by a fifth in 2012 and all its foreign reserves could be spent by the end of next year, a global finance industry association said on Monday. Since a revolt that has since descended into civil war started in March 2...

By Luiza Ilie and Ioana Patran BUCHAREST | Mon Dec 10, 2012 9:05am EST BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romanian President Traian Basescu was left little choice on Monday but to reappoint rival Victor Ponta as prime minister after the leftist's party won an election resoundingly. Ponta's Social Liberal Union...

VALLETTA | Mon Dec 10, 2012 8:48am EST VALLETTA (Reuters)- - The Maltese government faces a crucial budget vote in parliament on Monday, with one of its MPs saying he will vote with the opposition, potentially bringing forward an election due early next year. The ruling Nationalist Party of Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has a one-seat majority in the 69-...

By Manuela D'Alessandro MILAN | Mon Dec 10, 2012 8:33am EST MILAN (Reuters) - Milan magistrates ordered police on Monday to search for a Moroccan nightclub dancer at the center of a sex trial involving Silvio Berlusconi, now seeking a fifth term as prime minister in an election next year, after she failed to show up in court. The incident, two da...

By Mohammed Abbas LONDON | Mon Dec 10, 2012 8:20am EST LONDON (Reuters) - The European Union will look at ways on Monday to press Israel to ditch a plan to build settlements in a highly sensitive area of the occupied West Bank, but hold off on tough action soon despite international outrage over the decision. Some officials say that options for r...

By Andrew Cawthorne and Diego Ore CARACAS | Mon Dec 10, 2012 8:19am EST CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez flew to Cuba early on Monday for cancer surgery, vowing to return quickly despite admitting the disease could curb his 14-year rule of the South American OPEC nation. "I leave full of hope. We are warriors, full of light an...

KHARTOUM | Mon Dec 10, 2012 8:14am EST KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan and South Sudan have asked the African Union to help hammer out details of a proposed withdrawal of troops from their disputed border, defense ministers from both countries said on Monday, as stalled talks continued to delay oil exports. Week-long negotiations in Khartoum failed to reach a...

By Jonny Hogg and Ed Stoddard GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo | Mon Dec 10, 2012 8:08am EST GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - When Congo's government army retreated in panic from the eastern city of Goma last month, many observers blamed the poor morale and leadership, ill discipline and corruption that have sapped its fighting ca...

By Aileen Wang and Kevin Yao BEIJING | Mon Dec 10, 2012 6:53am EST BEIJING (Reuters) - China's exports growth slowed sharply to a much lower than expected 2.9 percent in November, a customs report said on Monday, underscoring the global headwinds dragging on an economy showing otherwise solid signs of a pick up in domestic activity. Data at the w...

By Robert Evans GENEVA | Sun Dec 9, 2012 7:19pm EST GENEVA (Reuters) - Atheists and other religious skeptics suffer persecution or discrimination in many parts of the world and in at least seven nations can be executed if their beliefs become known, according to a report issued on Monday. The study, from the International Humanist and Ethical Uni...

By Khalid Abdelaziz KHARTOUM | Sun Dec 9, 2012 6:45pm EST KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Police in Sudan used teargas and batons to repel rock-throwing students on Sunday as tension simmered over the deaths of four students following a protest against tuition fees. The police moved in as more than 400 students marched from the University of Khartoum throug...

By Kwasi Kpodo and Richard Valdmanis ACCRA | Sun Dec 9, 2012 6:33pm EST ACCRA (Reuters) - Ghana's electoral authorities said on Sunday incumbent leader John Dramani Mahama won a new term as president in the West African state in an election the opposition claimed was marred by tampering. Mahama, who replaced former president John Atta Mills after...

By Steve Scherer and Lisa Jucca ROME/MILAN | Sun Dec 9, 2012 6:32pm EST ROME/MILAN (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti's imminent resignation has set off campaigning for an election expected in February, with financial markets on edge at the prospect of a return to an old-style Italian political crisis. On Saturday the 69-year-old form...