Headlines News

By Marc Frank SANTIAGO, Cuba (Reuters) - Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro was nominated on Sunday for a seat in the National Assembly, a sign he may not be planning to step down as head of state despite struggling to recover from a long illness. Castro, 81, handed over power temporarily to his brother Raul 16 months ago after life-threatening stomach surgery and he has not been since in public sin ...

By Opheera McDoom KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Two British Muslim politicians said they hoped to meet Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Sunday to secure the early release of a British teacher jailed for allowing her class to name a teddy bear Mohammad. Gillian Gibbons, who was sentenced to 15 days in jail in Sudan for insulting religion, is being held in a clean, private jail and is in good spiri ...

By Alister Doyle and Gerard Wynn BALI, Indonesia (Reuters) - Delegates from about 190 nations gathered in Bali on Sunday to try to build on a "fragile understanding" that the fight against global warming needs to be expanded to all countries with a deal in 2009. The U.N.'s top climate change official told thousands of delegates that the eyes of the world would be on their Dec 3-14 talks in an Indo ...

By Peter Graff and Waleed Ibrahim BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq must take advantage of improved security and enact laws aimed at reconciliation or risk a resumption of sectarian violence, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said on Sunday. In a positive political development, the main Sunni Arab bloc called off a boycott of parliament after its leader was allowed to leave his house for the f ...

By Hugh Bronstein CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelans voted in a tightly contested referendum on Sunday on whether to allow left-wing President Hugo Chavez to stay in power for as long as he keeps winning elections or hand him his first defeat at the polls. The anti-Washington firebrand, who has easily won one election after another against a fragmented opposition, is in the hardest campaign of his li ...

By Michael Stott MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russians voted on Sunday in a parliamentary election likely to give President Vladimir Putin's party a big victory, but opposition figures said there was widespread fraud. Pollsters said Putin's United Russia party was expected to win a majority of up to 65 percent of votes, a show of public support which Putin hopes to use as a mandate to retain influence after ...

By Adrian Croft LONDON (Reuters) - Opposition parties stepped up attacks on Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government on Sunday, demanding to know who knew about illegal secret donations to the Labour Party. The property developer at the centre of the scandal was reported to have alleged that 10 Labour Party officials were aware of his arrangement to give more than 600,000 pounds to the party throu ...

By Peter Graff and Waleed Ibrahim BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq must take advantage of improved security to enact laws aimed at reconciliation or risk a resumption of sectarian violence, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said on Sunday. Violence in Iraq has fallen dramatically over the past few months following Washington's "surge" of 30,000 additional troops. But Iraqi leaders have so far ...

By Katie Nguyen KISUMU, Kenya (Reuters) - If there is one place Kenyan presidential hopeful Raila Odinga can skip on his hectic campaign trail it is Kisumu, an industrial town perched on the edge of Lake Victoria. It belongs to the western province where the former minister-turned-opposition leader was born. Most voters here consider Odinga, 62, their man and the December 27 election a fait accomp ...

By Hamid Shalizi KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's army will reach a targeted strength of a trained force of 70,000 within four months, but that will be insufficient to stand against internal and external threats, a government spokesman said on Sunday. Currently the Afghan National Army stands at around 57,000 out of the 70,000 target, set at an international conference after the Taliban's removal i ...