COLOMBO | Fri Nov 9, 2012 12:04pm EST COLOMBO (Reuters) - Ten people were killed in a gunfight in a Sri Lankan's biggest jail on Friday that started when police conducting a routine search came under fire from inmates, officials and police said. The clashes were still going on early on Saturday and witnesses said they saw police shooting towards the pris...

TOULOUSE, France | Fri Nov 9, 2012 11:49am EST TOULOUSE, France (Reuters) - A military aircraft crashed in southeastern France on Friday, the local fire brigade said. It was not immediately clear how many people were on board or whether there were survivors from the crash in an uninhabited part of the Lozere region near the city of Avignon.French media r...

By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA | Fri Nov 9, 2012 11:21am EST VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran will return to talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency next month, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Friday, the latest push to seek a peaceful end to a dispute that has raised fears of a new Middle East war. The IAEA announcement came days after U.S. President...

PRETORIA | Fri Nov 9, 2012 11:14am EST PRETORIA (Reuters) - Landlocked Uganda is worried about the chances of violence in elections next year in neighboring Kenya and is taking steps to ensure its trade is not disrupted as it was during polls unrest in 2007/08, its junior foreign minister said on Friday. "We have already set up a task force, a ministeria...

By Jonathon Burch and Rania El Gamal ANKARA/DOHA | Fri Nov 9, 2012 11:13am EST ANKARA/DOHA (Reuters) - Thousands of Syrians fled their country on Friday in one of the biggest refugee exoduses of the 20 month war after rebels seized a border town. Syria's fractious opposition was meeting in Qatar, under increasing pressure from the United States a...

By Erik Kirschbaum BERLIN | Fri Nov 9, 2012 11:06am EST BERLIN (Reuters) - German chancellor candidate Peer Steinbrueck has fallen far behind Angela Merkel in his campaign for 2013 elections, losing poll support with his abrasive style and a row over his lucrative speaking engagements. Steinbrueck spent much of his first month as candidate for th...

By Margarita Antidze TBILISI | Fri Nov 9, 2012 10:45am EST TBILISI (Reuters) - A Georgian court decided on Friday to keep a former minister in custody, but freed two army commanders on bail after they were charged with abuse of power. The case has raised concerns that the new government led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili is waging a political...

By Gabriel Stargardter MEXICO CITY | Fri Nov 9, 2012 9:57am EST MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico on Friday formally charged 14 federal police officers with attempted murder for an August attack on two U.S. agents, identified by sources as CIA agents, that embarrassed the Mexican government with its powerful northern neighbor. Mexican security sourc...

VIENNA | Fri Nov 9, 2012 8:35am EST VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear agency said on Friday it would hold a new round of atomic talks with Iran in Tehran on December 13, confirming an earlier Reuters report. "The aim is to conclude the structured approach to resolving outstanding issues related to Iran's nuclear program," International Atomic Energy Ag...

DUBAI | Fri Nov 9, 2012 8:05am EST DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran said it would deal decisively with any foreign encroachment into its airspace, an apparent warning to the United States after one of its surveillance drones was targeted by Iranian warplanes last week. On Thursday U.S. officials said the unarmed Predator drone was in international airspace when Ir...

MOSCOW | Fri Nov 9, 2012 7:29am EST MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin dismissed the chief of staff of Russia's armed forces on Friday in a reshuffle of the military top brass, three days after sacking his defense minister following a corruption scandal. Putin removed General Nikolai Makarov as his top general and replaced him with General Valer...

By Jorge Dan and Milton Castillo SAN MARCOS, Guatemala | Thu Nov 8, 2012 1:25pm EST SAN MARCOS, Guatemala (Reuters) - Rescue workers on Thursday carted out dead bodies found under rubble in the aftermath of Guatemala's most powerful earthquake in decades, while others cleared wrecked cars and coll...

By Rania El Gamal and Andrew Hammond DOHA | Thu Nov 8, 2012 1:12pm EST DOHA (Reuters) - President Bashar al-Assad said he would "live and die" in Syria and warned that any Western invasion to topple him would have catastrophic consequences for the Middle East and beyond. Assad's defiant remarks coincided with a landmark meeting in Qatar on Thursd...

By Kwasi Kpodo ACCRA | Thu Nov 8, 2012 12:51pm EST ACCRA (Reuters) - An Israeli military team arrived in Ghana on Thursday to help search for survivors a day after a four-storey shopping mall collapsed in the West African state's capital Accra, killing at least nine. Officials said more people than initially thought were still trapped in the wrec...

GAZA | Thu Nov 8, 2012 12:49pm EST GAZA (Reuters) - Gunfire from Israeli forces killed a Palestinian boy in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, local medics said, during border clashes between the Israeli military and Palestinian militants. The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a militant group, said its gunmen had confronted an Israeli force of four tanks an...

By Trisha Sertori NUSA DUA, Indonesia | Thu Nov 8, 2012 12:38pm EST NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday the age of nuclear deterrence was long gone and any country still stockpiling nuclear weapons was "mentally retarded". He again denied Iran was trying to develop nuclear weapons, a day after th...

By Sui-Lee Wee and Ben Blanchard BEIJING | Thu Nov 8, 2012 12:34pm EST BEIJING (Reuters) - President Hu Jintao warned China's incoming leaders on Thursday that corruption threatened the ruling Communist Party and the state, but said the party must stay in charge as it battles growing social unrest. In a state-of-the-nation address to more than 2,...

KHARTOUM | Thu Nov 8, 2012 12:02pm EST KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Thursday promised his country would respond robustly to what he believes was an Israeli bombing of a Khartoum arms factory and said he was in "perfect health" after undergoing surgery in Saudi Arabia. Sudan last month accused Israel of carrying out an a...

By Margarita Antidze TBILISI | Thu Nov 8, 2012 11:57am EST TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgian prosecutors on Thursday charged a former minister and two army officials with abuse of power, in what the opposition calls political persecution by the new government. A coalition led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili ousted President Mikheil Saakashvili's pa...

By Daren Butler ISTANBUL | Thu Nov 8, 2012 11:31am EST ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Retired Turkish military commanders have expressed fury that a former top Kurdish rebel has been allowed to testify against them in a coup trial, citing it as proof the proceedings were meant only to intimidate and undermine the armed forces. Semdin Sakik, known as "Finge...

By Erika Solomon HAREM, Syria | Thu Nov 8, 2012 10:24am EST HAREM, Syria (Reuters) - Unarmed and cornered by Syrian rebel fighters, the man seemed to accept his death with more silent sorrow than surprise; his killers did not hesitate as they shot their prisoner. The incident, filmed by a Reuters video crew, happened last week in Harem, near Alep...

By Rania El Gamal and Andrew Hammond DOHA | Thu Nov 8, 2012 8:50am EST DOHA (Reuters) - President Bashar al-Assad scotched any suggestion he might flee Syria and warned that any Western military intervention to topple him would have catastrophic consequences for the Middle East and beyond. Speaking in an interview with Russia Today (RT) televisio...

By Henry Foy and Matthias Williams GURGAON, India | Thu Nov 8, 2012 8:31am EST GURGAON, India (Reuters) - India Inc. demanded simpler tax rules, faster project approvals and tougher rules on corruption at an economic summit on Thursday, as companies challenged the government to push for deeper economic fixes than a handful of recent reforms. Temp...

By Jorge Dan and Milton Castillo SAN MARCOS, Guatemala | Thu Nov 8, 2012 8:04am EST SAN MARCOS, Guatemala (Reuters) - A strong earthquake off the coast of Guatemala killed at least 48 people and trapped others under rubble on Wednesday, crushing homes and cars, destroying roads and forcing evacuations as far away as Mexico City. Most of the dead ...

By Jonny Hogg NYABIBWE, Democratic Republic of Congo | Thu Nov 8, 2012 8:02am EST NYABIBWE, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Miners clustered in a muddy riverbed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo watch as a bag of tin ore is weighed on scales hung from a shovel and then sealed with a small plastic tag. The simple "bag and tag" initi...

KHARTOUM | Thu Nov 8, 2012 7:53am EST KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Rebels in Sudan's main oil state said on Thursday they had shot down a government Antonov military aircraft after it had bombed targets in the territory's Nuba mountains area. Sudan's armed forces spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Insurgents from the Sudan People's Lib...

By Imtiaz Shah KARACHI, Pakistan | Thu Nov 8, 2012 7:52am EST KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Taliban suicide bomber killed at least one person when he rammed his vehicle into the gates of a military base in Pakistan's largest city on Thursday, police said, the latest in a series of audacious attacks on security forces. Thirteen people were wound...

LONDON | Thu Nov 8, 2012 7:51am EST LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron warned on Thursday that speculation about the identity of an unidentified member of his ruling Conservative party accused of sexually abusing children could turn into a witch-hunt against gay people. Cameron, who leads a troubled two-party coalition, ordered an in...

By Sui-Lee Wee and Ben Blanchard BEIJING | Thu Nov 8, 2012 7:13am EST BEIJING (Reuters) - President Hu Jintao warned China's incoming leaders on Thursday that corruption threatened the ruling Communist Party and the state, but said the party must stay in charge as it battles growing social unrest. In a state-of-the-nation address to more than 2,0...

KABUL | Thu Nov 8, 2012 6:42am EST KABUL (Reuters) - At least 18 people, including 10 civilians, were killed in three attacks in Afghanistan's south and east on Thursday, provincial officials said, the highest death toll in a single day since a spate of killings over the Eid festival last month. A roadside bomb killed 10 civilians who were driving to a w...

PRAGUE | Thu Nov 8, 2012 5:09am EST PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Czech parliament on Thursday approved an ambitious plan to return billions of dollars worth of church property that was confiscated by the communists in a vote that represented a victory for Prime Minister Petr Necas. The law envisages handing churches land, property, and financial compensation w...

By Sui-Lee Wee and Ben Blanchard BEIJING | Wed Nov 7, 2012 9:59pm EST BEIJING (Reuters) - China's outgoing President Hu Jintao warned that corruption threatened the ruling Communist Party and the state, promising political reform as he formally opened a party congress that will usher in a once-in-a-decade leadership change. More than 2,000 hand-p...

By Mike McDonald GUATEMALA CITY | Wed Nov 7, 2012 7:21pm EST GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - A strong earthquake off the coast of Guatemala killed at least 39 people on Wednesday, trapping others under rubble, crushing homes and cars, destroying roads and forcing evacuations as far away as Mexico City. Many of the dead were buried under debris in San ...

By Jonathon Burch ANKARA | Wed Nov 7, 2012 7:03pm EST ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey will imminently lodge an official request with NATO asking the military alliance to deploy Patriot missiles along its border with Syria to guard against violence spilling over, a senior Turkish foreign ministry official said on Wednesday. If approved, the deployment w...

By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS | Wed Nov 7, 2012 6:48pm EST UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Hours after U.S. President Barack Obama was re-elected, the United States backed a U.N. committee's call on Wednesday to renew debate over a draft international treaty to regulate the $70 billion global conventional arms trade. U.N. delegates and gun contr...

By Ben Blanchard BEIJING | Wed Nov 7, 2012 6:42pm EST BEIJING (Reuters) - Where other top Chinese leaders can only stand around and look awkward in the presence of English-speaking dignitaries, premier-in-waiting Li Keqiang stands out for his casual and disarming command of the language. Li's English skills say more about the man who will run the...

By Lefteris Papadimas and Harry Papachristou ATHENS | Wed Nov 7, 2012 6:00pm EST ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's government voted by a razor thin margin on Thursday to approve an austerity package needed to unlock vital aid and avert bankruptcy, despite an internal rift and violent protests at the gates of parliament. Lawmakers approved the spending ...

By Kwasi Kpodo ACCRA | Wed Nov 7, 2012 4:47pm EST ACCRA (Reuters) - At least four people were killed and dozens more were trapped in rubble when a four-storey building housing a department store collapsed on Wednesday in a suburb of Ghana's capital Accra. President John Mahama, running for election in December, cut short a campaign tour to visit ...

By Renee Maltezou and Lefteris Papadimas ATHENS | Wed Nov 7, 2012 12:45pm EST ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek police fired teargas and water cannons to disperse thousands of protesters who flooded into the main square before parliament on Wednesday in a massive show of anger against lawmakers due to narrowly pass an austerity package. The violence erupt...

By Mike McDonald GUATEMALA CITY | Wed Nov 7, 2012 12:45pm EST GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - A strong earthquake off the coast of Guatemala on Wednesday shook buildings in Guatemala City and San Salvador and was felt as far away as Mexico City, Reuters witnesses said. Firefighters said eight people were injured when a building collapsed in San Marcos...