By Angus McDowall MANAMA | Sun Dec 9, 2012 6:14pm EST MANAMA (Reuters) - Bahrain opposition groups welcomed a government appeal for dialogue to break a deadlock in the restive kingdom, saying they were prepared to meet without any pre-conditions, but called for the results of talks to be put to a referendum. The Gulf Arab state, which hosts the U...

KANO | Sun Dec 9, 2012 5:53pm EST KANO (Reuters) - Nigerian security forces said they arrested 28 suspected members of Islamist sect Boko Haram over the weekend, in a series of dawn raids on their hideouts. "Our plan is to choke the (militants), to suffocate them and we are getting the desired results," said a spokesman for joint military and police forc...

By Michael Martina BEIJING | Sun Dec 9, 2012 5:41pm EST BEIJING (Reuters) - As the number of self-immolations in restive Tibetan regions rises sharply, Beijing appears to be tightening rules against the anti-China protests despite hopes the new leadership may take a softer line against Tibet. Some experts have said Communist Party chief Xi Jinpin...

By Irene Preisinger MUNICH | Sun Dec 9, 2012 5:28pm EST MUNICH (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras visited Bavaria on Sunday, charming former critics of Greece in the southern German state who once wished to eject his country from the euro zone, and departing with pledges of solidarity and support. Samaras' visit to Munich and dinner...

By Erika Solomon BEIRUT | Sun Dec 9, 2012 3:30pm EST BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.S. and Russian officials have given their commitment to a political solution for the deepening Syrian conflict, a United Nations envoy said on Sunday, but Moscow dismissed speculation it was preparing for President Bashar al-Assad's exit. With rebels now fighting on the doo...

By Alistair Lyon and Tamim Elyan CAIRO | Sun Dec 9, 2012 2:46pm EST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's main opposition coalition rejected on Sunday Islamist President Mohamed Mursi's plan for a constitutional referendum this week, saying it risked dragging the country into "violent confrontation". Mursi's decision on Saturday to retract a decree awarding ...

By Erik Kirschbaum HANOVER, Germany | Sun Dec 9, 2012 10:35am EST HANOVER, Germany (Reuters) - Germany's opposition Social Democrats (SPD) formally nominated former Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck on Sunday as their candidate to run for chancellor against Angela Merkel in next September's election. Steinbrueck promised a more just society and c...

By Dan Williams JERUSALEM | Sun Dec 9, 2012 10:28am EST JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Hamas's vow to vanquish Israel after claiming "victory" in last month's Gaza conflict vindicates Israel's reluctance to relinquish more land to the Palestinians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday. Khaled Meshaal, the leader of the Islamist Hamas movement,...

CAIRO | Sat Dec 8, 2012 7:49pm EST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi canceled a decree which had sparked huge protests by giving him sweeping powers. But Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood said a referendum on a new constitution would go ahead as planned on December 15 - suggesting the climbdown by Mu...

By Sam Cage BUCHAREST | Sat Dec 8, 2012 6:56pm EST BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania's prime minister is heading for victory in parliamentary elections on Sunday that could set off another round of a power struggle with the rightist president and complicate talks for a new IMF deal. Prime Minister Victor Ponta's leftist Social Liberal Union (USL) wil...

JERUSALEM | Sat Dec 8, 2012 6:12pm EST JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Former prime minister Ehud Olmert said on Saturday that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu was taking Israel into unprecedented isolation with its policy on Jewish settlements. He singled out Israel's recent announcement that it would build new settlement homes in the E1 corridor near Jerusal...

By Joel Flynn BIRMINGHAM, England | Sat Dec 8, 2012 5:03pm EST BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters) - Pakistan's President Asif Zardari held a private meeting on Saturday with Malala Yousufzai, the teenage Pakistani schoolgirl shot by the Taliban after advocating education for girls, at the British hospital where she is being treated. Yousufzai, who was...

CAIRO | Sat Dec 8, 2012 3:34pm EST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian authorities are holding a man whose militant group is suspected of links to an attack in Libya in which the American ambassador was killed, U.S. officials in Washington and a security source in Cairo said on Saturday. "They arrested Mohamed Gamal," said one U.S. official.The security source in...

By Regan Doherty and Barbara Lewis DOHA | Sat Dec 8, 2012 2:44pm EST DOHA (Reuters) - Almost 200 nations extended a weakened United Nations plan for combating global warming until 2020 on Saturday with a modest set of measures that would do nothing to halt rising world greenhouse gas emissions. Many countries and environmentalists said the deal a...

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Crispian Balmer GAZA | Sat Dec 8, 2012 2:30pm EST GAZA (Reuters) - Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, in a defiant speech during his first ever visit to Gaza, told a mass rally on Saturday he would never recognize Israel and pledged to "free the land of Palestine inch by inch". A sea of flag-waving supporters poured into the ci...

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN | Sat Dec 8, 2012 1:26pm EST AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebel groups have chosen a former officer to head a new Islamist-dominated command, in a Western-backed effort to put the opposition's house in order as President Bashar al-Assad's army takes hits that could usher his downfall. In Turkey, a newly formed joint comma...

JOHANNESBURG | Sat Dec 8, 2012 12:03pm EST JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Former South African president Nelson Mandela was admitted to hospital on Saturday for medical tests, although the government said there was no cause for alarm. A statement from President Jacob Zuma's office gave no details of the condition of the 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader."Forme...

Foreign drug cartels lost tons of narcotics in a week to police here and in Panamanian waters. Local police captured three truck shipments and Panamanian authorities along with U.S. patrols cooperated in another blow. After a chase that began in Costa Rican waters, a U.S. Coast Guard frigate and Panamanian patrol boat trapped a semi-submersible craft after an unarmed U.S. Orion P-3 patrol aircr...

By Alistair Lyon and Tamim Elyan CAIRO | Sat Dec 8, 2012 9:22am EST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's military said on Saturday only dialogue could avert "catastrophe", stepping into a crisis pitting an Islamist president against opponents of his drive to reshape a nation in turmoil since Hosni Mubarak's overthrow. An army statement, which state radio an...

By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW | Fri Dec 7, 2012 6:25pm EST MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Senate's passage of legislation to punish Russians who violate human rights is the first big test of Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama's resolve to improve relations since each won elections. Obama, who launched a "reset" in relations with Russia less than four years ago,...

By Crispian Balmer and Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA | Fri Dec 7, 2012 6:23pm EST GAZA (Reuters) - After receiving a hero's welcome on his return from decades in exile, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal will attend a rally in Gaza on Saturday to mark the founding of his Islamist group and celebrate "victory" over Israel. At least 200,000 Palestinians are expe...

By Edmund Blair and Yasmine Saleh CAIRO | Fri Dec 7, 2012 6:20pm EST CAIRO (Reuters) - Prime Minister Mohamed Mursi was expected to press ahead on Saturday with talks on ways to end Egypt's worst crisis since he took office even though the country's main opposition leaders have vowed to stay away. Cairo and other cities have been rocked by violen...

By Jim Wolf WASHINGTON | Fri Dec 7, 2012 6:17pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An internal report for the U.S. Congress has concluded that Iran probably is no longer on track, if it ever was, to having an ocean-crossing missile as soon as 2015. The study casts doubt on a view long held by U.S. intelligence agencies that Iran could be able to test-fly...

By Timothy Gardner and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON | Fri Dec 7, 2012 5:50pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States granted 180-day waivers on Iran sanctions to China, India and a number of other countries on Friday in exchange for their cutting purchases of oil from the Islamic Republic. President Barack Obama's administration has now renewe...

By Erika Solomon BEIRUT | Fri Dec 7, 2012 2:27pm EST BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad declared Damascus International Airport a battle zone on Friday, while Moscow and Washington both sounded downbeat about the prospects of a diplomatic push to end the conflict. Fighting around the capital city has int...

By Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay and Rod Nickel Fri Dec 7, 2012 12:48pm EST (Reuters) - Glencore International Plc won approval from China's Ministry of Commerce on Friday for its C$6 billion ($6 billion) purchase of Canadian grain handler Viterra Inc, clearing the last regulatory hurdle for the long-delayed deal. The takeover, one of the largest in the global ag...

By Diego Ore and Efrain Otero CARACAS | Fri Dec 7, 2012 9:04am EST CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez made a theatrical return home on Friday after medical treatment in Cuba, walking and joking in a first public appearance for three weeks that quashed rumors he may have been at ...

By Erika Solomon BEIRUT | Fri Dec 7, 2012 9:09am EST BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad declared Damascus International Airport a battle zone on Friday, warning civilians and airlines they would approach it "at their own risk". Fighting around the capital city has intensified over the past week, promptin...

By Paolo Biondi ROME | Fri Dec 7, 2012 8:56am EST ROME (Reuters) - The secretary of Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom party said on Friday it was time that Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti's term in office came to an end but that his party would not trigger a disorderly crisis. People of Freedom (PDL) secretary Angelino Alfano told parliame...

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Marwa Awad GAZA | Fri Dec 7, 2012 8:45am EST GAZA (Reuters) - Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal ended decades of exile from Palestinian land on Friday with a triumphal first ever visit to the Gaza Strip that underscored the Islamist group's growing confidence following its latest conflict with Israel. After passing through the ...

By Antoni Slodkowski TOKYO | Fri Dec 7, 2012 8:39am EST TOKYO (Reuters) - A strong quake centered off northeastern Japan shook buildings as far away as Tokyo on Friday and triggered a one-meter tsunami in an area devastated by last year's Fukushima disaster, but there were no reports of deaths or serious damage. The quake had a preliminary magnit...

By Tom Perry and Edmund Blair CAIRO | Fri Dec 7, 2012 8:18am EST CAIRO (Reuters) - The crisis unleashed by President Mohamed Mursi's bid to wrap up Egypt's transition on his own terms has eroded his nation's faith in their nascent democracy and will complicate the already unenviable task of government. His effort to drive through a constitution a...

Fri Dec 7, 2012 8:17am EST (Reuters) - Glencore International Plc won approval from China's Ministry of Commerce for its C$6 billion ($6 billion) purchase of Canadian grain handler Viterra Inc, clearing the last regulatory hurdle for the long-delayed deal. The takeover, one of the largest in the global agriculture industry in years, was originally expected to clo...

By Dan Williams JERUSALEM | Fri Dec 7, 2012 7:24am EST JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Human Rights Watch urged Israel on Friday to provide a full account of its air strike on a house in the Gaza Strip that killed 12 civilians last month, saying the action appeared to have been illegal. The November 18 attack on the three-storey home of the Dalu family was...

By Melanie Lee BEIJING | Fri Dec 7, 2012 5:16am EST BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Xiaomi Technology is a fairy tale for nerdy entrepreneurs. Less than three years after its founding, the smartphone maker is valued at $4 billion and evokes Apple-like adoration from its fans, some of whom are desperate enough to skip work for a shot at buying the lat...

By Tan Ee Lyn HONG KONG | Fri Dec 7, 2012 4:47am EST HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese labor arbitrators have ruled against the father of a Foxconn worker brain-damaged in a factory accident in southern China, in a case that puts more attention on the labor practices of Apple Inc's largest contract manufacturer. The case involves Zhang Tingzhen, a 26...

BEIJING | Fri Dec 7, 2012 4:21am EST BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Foreign Ministry lambasted the United States on Friday for "disgusting" comments by a U.S. official on the human rights situation in Tibet, saying it had prompted them to file a formal diplomatic complaint with Washington. Maria Otero, United States Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, s...

By David Alexander WASHINGTON | Fri Dec 7, 2012 3:16am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is shifting warships into position to track and possibly defend against a planned North Korean rocket launch while urging Pyongyang to cancel its second such attempt this year, the head of the U.S. Pacific Command said on Thursday. Admiral Samuel L...

By Erik de Castro NEW BATAAN, Philippines | Fri Dec 7, 2012 1:53am EST NEW BATAAN, Philippines (Reuters) - Residents in the southern Philippines buried their dead on Friday even as rescue workers continued scouring remote areas for survivors of Typhoon Bopha, the nation's strongest storm this year, which killed 418 people and left nearly as many ...

By Yasmine Saleh and Tom Perry CAIRO | Thu Dec 6, 2012 7:45pm EST CAIRO (Reuters) - Demonstrators rejected a call from Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Mursi for a national dialogue after deadly clashes around his palace, demanding the "downfall of the regime" - the chant that brought down Hosni Mubarak. Mursi said in a televised speech late on...