By Jonny Hogg GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo | Wed Nov 28, 2012 8:02am EST GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have started withdrawing from towns captured since last week from government troops, following a deal brokered by Uganda, their military leader said on Wednesday. Such a pull-...

JERUSALEM | Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:49am EST JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's navy detained a group of Gaza fishermen on Wednesday, saying they had gone beyond a recently expanded fishing zone off the Israeli-blockaded Palestinian enclave. Fishermen on two boats were detained and taken to Israel's Mediterranean port of Ashdod for questioning, an Israeli militar...

BEIJING | Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:45am EST BEIJING (Reuters) - China's cabinet vowed on Wednesday to tighten laws on the expropriation of farmland, warning that the problem risked fuelling rural unrest and undermining the country's food security. "Rural land has been expropriated too much and too fast as industrialization and urbanization accelerate," state n...

DOUAI, France | Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:28am EST DOUAI, France (Reuters) - A French court postponed a decision on Wednesday on requests that it call off a sex offence inquiry where former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn risks trial on a charge of "aggravated pimping". The court in Douai, a town north of Paris, had been scheduled to rule on Wednesday on the l...

DUBAI | Wed Nov 28, 2012 6:28am EST DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran will continue enriching uranium "with intensity", with the number of enrichment centrifuges it has operating to increase substantially in the current year, the country's nuclear energy chief was quoted as saying on Wednesday. The comments by Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, the head of Iran's Atomic Ener...

BEIJING | Wed Nov 28, 2012 6:11am EST BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Wednesday that people should not read too much into the placement of a new map in its passports that depicts claims to disputed territory, after the United States said it would raise concerns with Beijing over the issue. The Philippines and Vietnam have condemned the new microchip-eq...

By Tamim Elyan CAIRO | Tue Nov 27, 2012 6:09pm EST CAIRO (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Egyptians rallied on Tuesday against President Mohamed Mursi in one of the biggest outpourings of protest since Hosni Mubarak's overthrow, accusing the Islamist leader of seeking to impose a new era of autocracy. Police fired tear gas at stone-throwing youth...

By Terril Yue Jones BEIJING | Tue Nov 27, 2012 8:28am EST BEIJING (Reuters) - China's military buildup poses no threat to the world, Defense Minister Liang Guanglie said on Tuesday, in an effort to allay fears among Asian neighbors amid long-running maritime disputes. The United States, Japan and many other Southeast Asian states have frequently ...

By Jan Strupczewski and Luke Baker BRUSSELS | Tue Nov 27, 2012 8:24am EST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The Greek government and financial markets were cheered on Tuesday by an agreement between euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund to reduce Greece's debt, paving the way for the release of urgently needed aid loans. The deal, cl...

By Dan Williams JERUSALEM | Tue Nov 27, 2012 8:22am EST JERUSALEM (Reuters) - At least two key advisers helping hold Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu back from a threatened war with Iran have been sidelined in a party primary to pick candidates for a January 22 election, political sources said on Tuesday. Dan Meridor and Benny Begin, two...

By Richard Lough and Jonny Hogg GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo | Tue Nov 27, 2012 7:42am EST GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Rebels in Democratic Republic of Congo said on Tuesday they would withdraw from the eastern city of Goma if President Joseph Kabila agreed to their demands, which the Congolese government was quick to dis...

By Marton Dunai BUDAPEST | Tue Nov 27, 2012 7:34am EST BUDAPEST (Reuters) - A Hungarian far-right politician urged the government to draw up lists of Jews who pose a "national security risk", stirring outrage among Jewish leaders who saw echoes of fascist policies that led to the Holocaust. Marton Gyongyosi, leader of Hungary's third-strongest po...

By Roman Kozhevnikov DUSHANBE | Tue Nov 27, 2012 7:24am EST DUSHANBE (Reuters) - Tajikistan has blocked access to Facebook in response to a slew of comments spreading "mud and slander" about veteran President Imomali Rakhmon and officials in the Central Asian republic. The ban on the popular social networking site is the latest crackdown on disse...

BEIRUT | Tue Nov 27, 2012 7:17am EST BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Syrian military air strike killed and wounded dozens of people when it hit an olive oil press near the northern city of Idlib on Tuesday, activists said. Activist Tareq Abdelhaq said at least 20 people were killed and 50 wounded in the attack, citing residents near the Abu Hilal olive oil press, 2...

By Tom Perry and Edmund Blair CAIRO | Tue Nov 27, 2012 6:23am EST CAIRO (Reuters) - Opponents of President Mohamed Mursi rallied in Cairo's Tahrir Square for a fifth day on Tuesday, stepping up calls to scrap a decree they say threatens Egypt with a new era of autocracy. The protest called by leftist, liberal and socialist groups marks an escalat...

By Jihan Abdalla RAMALLAH, West Bank | Tue Nov 27, 2012 4:41am EST RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Forensic experts took samples from Yasser Arafat's buried corpse in the West Bank on Tuesday, trying to determine if he was murdered by Israeli agents using the hard-to-trace radioactive poison, Polonium. Palestinians witnessed the funeral of their ...

WASHINGTON | Mon Nov 26, 2012 10:35pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new satellite image shows a marked increase in activity at a North Korean missile launch site, pointing to a possible long-range ballistic missile test by Pyongyang in the next three weeks, according to satellite operator DigitalGlobe Inc. The imagery was released days after a Japanese ne...

By Yasmine Saleh and Edmund Blair CAIRO | Mon Nov 26, 2012 3:55pm EST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's president negotiated with judges on Monday to try to defuse a crisis over his seizure of extended powers which set off violent protests reminiscent of the uprising that thrust his Islamist movement into government. The justice minister said he thought ...

By Jan Strupczewski BRUSSELS | Mon Nov 26, 2012 9:32am EST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund began their third attempt in as many weeks to release emergency aid for Greece on Monday, with policymakers saying a write-down of Greek debt is off the table for now. Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stourn...

By Yasmine Saleh and Edmund Blair CAIRO | Mon Nov 26, 2012 9:23am EST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi meets senior judges on Monday to try to defuse a crisis over his seizure of new powers which has set off violent protests reminiscent of the revolution last year that led to the rise of his Islamist movement. The justice minist...

By Fiona Ortiz and Braden Phillips BARCELONA, Spain | Mon Nov 26, 2012 8:42am EST BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) - Separatists in Spain's Catalonia won regional elections on Sunday but failed to get a resounding mandate for a referendum on independence, which had threatened to pile political uncertainty on top of Spain's economic woes. Catalan Presid...

By Sarah Marsh and Hans-Edzard Busemann BOCHUM, Germany | Sun Nov 25, 2012 10:58am EST BOCHUM, Germany (Reuters) - Germany's fast-sinking Pirates Party struggled to overcome infighting at a congress that ended on Sunday and chart a course for next year's federal elections that may see it cast into political oblivion as swiftly as it arrived. Supp...

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN | Sun Nov 25, 2012 10:52am EST AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebels said on Sunday they had captured a helicopter base east of Damascus after an overnight assault, their latest gain in a costly battle to unseat President Bashar al-Assad that is drawing nearer to his seat of power. The Marj al-Sultan base, 15 km (10 miles) ...

By Garba Mohammed and Isaac Abrak KADUNA, Nigeria | Sun Nov 25, 2012 10:44am EST KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Two suicide bombs killed at least 11 people on Sunday at a church in a barracks in northern Nigeria, where the Islamist sect Boko Haram is waging a campaign of violence, the military said. Army spokesman Bola Koleoso said a bus drove into ...

LONDON | Sun Nov 25, 2012 9:24am EST LONDON (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Sunday urged the United States to take a more active role in seeking a lasting settlement between Israelis and Palestinians, warning of a "final chance" for a two-state solution. Eight days of fighting between Israel and Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled encl...

SHANGHAI | Sun Nov 25, 2012 9:18am EST SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China has carried out its first successful landing of a fighter jet on its first aircraft carrier, state media said on Sunday, a symbolically significant development as Asian neighbors fret about the world's most populous country's military ambitions. The home-built J-15 fighter jet took off fro...

By Jonny Hogg and Richard Lough GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo | Sun Nov 25, 2012 9:05am EST GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Congo said on Sunday it would not negotiate with M23 rebels in the east until they pulled out of the city of Goma, but a rebel spokesman said Kinshasa was in no position to set conditions on peace talks. ...

By Dominic Evans BEIRUT | Sun Nov 25, 2012 8:37am EST BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel on Sunday that thousands of rockets would rain down on Tel Aviv and cities across the Jewish state if it attacked Lebanon. Speaking four days after the ceasefire which ended a week of conflict between Israel and the Isla...

By Anis Ahmed and Ruma Paul DHAKA | Sun Nov 25, 2012 6:37am EST DHAKA (Reuters) - Fire swept through a garment factory on the outskirts of Bangladesh's capital killing more than 100 people, the fire brigade said on Sunday, in the country's worst-ever factory blaze. Working conditions at Bangladeshi factories are notoriously poor, with little enfo...

By Saud Mehsud DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan | Sun Nov 25, 2012 6:36am EST DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - A bomb killed at least five people and wounded 90 near a Shi'ite procession in Pakistan on Sunday, police said, as the government struggles to stop a wave of attacks by sectarian Sunni militant groups determined to wipe out the minority ...

By Alan Baldwin SAO PAULO | Sat Nov 24, 2012 3:56pm EST SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Lewis Hamilton grabbed pole position in Brazil on Saturday for his last race with McLaren while Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel took a big step towards becoming Formula One's youngest triple champion. Championship leader Vettel will start Sunday's season-ending race in four...

By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA | Sat Nov 24, 2012 1:58pm EST GAZA (Reuters) - Israel eased restrictions on Gaza fishermen and farmers on Saturday, Palestinian officials said, advancing a three-day-old truce brokered by Egypt after a week of fierce fighting. Gaza's children also headed back to school in their hundreds of thousands, in another indicatio...

By Tom Perry CAIRO | Sat Nov 24, 2012 1:34pm EST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi faces a rebellion from judges who accused him on Saturday of expanding his powers at their expense, deepening a crisis that has triggered calls for more protests following a day of violence across Egypt. Judges in Alexandria, Egypt's second city, t...

By Jonny Hogg and Elias Biryabarema GOMA/KAMPALA | Sat Nov 24, 2012 1:29pm EST GOMA/KAMPALA (Reuters) - African leaders called on eastern rebels in Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday to abandon their aim of toppling the government and leave the city of Goma they captured this week. The appeal came from heads of state of the central African ...

By Mehreen Zahra-Malik ISLAMABAD | Sat Nov 24, 2012 11:42am EST ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A roadside bomb killed at least seven people near a Shi'ite procession in Pakistan on Saturday, police said, with security forces on high alert over fears of large-scale sectarian attacks on the minority sect across the country. Pakistan, a nuclear-armed U.S. al...

By Jonny Hogg and Richard Lough GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo | Sat Nov 24, 2012 8:38am EST GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Congo's army reinforced its positions south of the city of Goma on Saturday to halt a rebel advance, as African leaders met in Uganda to try to end the deepening crisis in an area long plagued by ethnic a...

By Tom Perry CAIRO | Sat Nov 24, 2012 9:44am EST CAIRO (Reuters) - Youths clashed with police in Cairo on Saturday as protests at new powers assumed by President Mohamed Mursi stretched into a second day, confronting Egypt with a crisis that has exposed the split between newly empowered Islamists and their opponents. A handful of hardcore activis...

By Jihan Abdalla RAMALLAH | Sat Nov 24, 2012 9:39am EST RAMALLAH (Reuters) - The body of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will be exhumed on Tuesday, eight years after his death, in an investigation to establish if he was murdered, a Palestinian official said on Saturday. A French court opened a murder inquiry in August into Arafat's death in...

By Astrid Wendlandt PARIS | Sat Nov 24, 2012 9:37am EST PARIS (Reuters) - Former president Nicolas Sarkozy denied receiving "a penny" in campaign funds from France's richest woman Liliane Bettencourt, according to excerpts of his testimony to judges published on Saturday by the French daily Sud-Ou...

By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY | Sat Nov 24, 2012 8:27am EST VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict made six non-European prelates Roman Catholic cardinals on Saturday, chipping away at the old continent's domination of the elite group that will one day elect his successor. The new cardinals, ranging in age from 53 to 72, are from the United Sta...