Reuters: World News

Attacks halt Iran dissident cleric's memorial service

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:37:13 -0500

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Opponents of Iran's most senior dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri stopped his memorial service in a tumultuous day in Qom on Monday which saw huge protests and some shots fired, websites said.

Israel passes response on prisoner swap to Hamas

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:03:17 -0500

GAZA (Reuters) - A German mediator was expected on Tuesday to give Hamas the Israeli response to a prisoner swap deal that would secure the release of a captured Israel soldier in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Qaeda makes rare public appearance at Yemen rally

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:17:34 -0500

SANAA (Reuters) - Al Qaeda militants made a rare public appearance in restive south Yemen on Monday, telling an anti-government rally that the group's war was with the United States and not the Yemeni army, residents said.

Guatemala will pay $3 million to massacre victims

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:39:35 -0500

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemala will pay $3 million to compensate victims of a civil war-era massacre in order to comply with an international court ruling, the nation's human rights chief said on Monday.

Seven North Koreans cross sea border to South

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:00:26 -0500

SEOUL (Reuters) - Seven North Koreans crossed into the South by taking a seldom used sea route that has been the site of deadly naval clashes between the rival Koreas in the past, officials said on Tuesday.

Mexico City allows gay marriage with landmark law

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:54:12 -0500

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico City became the first capital in Catholic, often macho Latin America to allow same-sex marriage on Monday when city legislators passed a law giving gay couples full marriage rights.

Colombia rejects Chavez charge over spy drones

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:47:14 -0500

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia on Monday dismissed Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's charges that drones flying from Colombia are spying on him, with a senior official saying Venezuelan troops instead may have seen "Father Christmas' sleigh."

Auschwitz sign thieves detained, not neo-Nazis

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:14:40 -0500

KRAKOW, Poland (Reuters) - Polish police detained five men on Monday for stealing the metal sign that hung over the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz, and said they were common thieves, not neo-Nazis. Last Friday's theft triggered widespread outrage, especially from Israel and Jewish groups, amid fears of a political motive. The sign, which carries the German motto "Arbeit macht frei" ("Work makes you free"), is a powerful symbol of the Holocaust committed by the Nazis against the Jews. The polic

Sierra Leone suspends tax chief over corruption

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:27:33 -0500

FREETOWN (Reuters) - Sierra Leone's top tax collector has been suspended in a corruption investigation, authorities said on Monday in the poor West African country which has been trying to promote itself to investors.

Aid group lists Top 10 worst humanitarian crises

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:43:14 -0500

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Governments around the world are blocking aid to trapped populations and people with HIV/AIDS are being turned away from health clinics because funding is lagging, Doctors Without Borders said in a bleak report outlining the world's 10 worst humanitarian crises.