Reuters North American News Service, December 28th, 2007
Duty editor: David Storey
+1 202 898 8457
Photo queries: Asia Picture Desk
+65 6870 3775
U.S. Pictures Desk
+1 202 898 8333
Graphics queries: +65 6870 3595
All times GMT (EST is five hours behind GMT)
TOP STORIES
NAUDERO - Protests, violence as Bhutto laid to rest
NEW DELHI - India orders "high state of vigil" on border
NAIROBI - President Kibaki losing Kenya vote -- media
PAKISTAN CRISIS
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan accuses al Qaeda of killing opposition
leader Benazir Bhutto, whose assassination has plunged the
nuclear-armed country into crisis and triggered bloody protests
(PAKISTAN-CRISIS (WRAPUP 1), pix, tv, graphic, expect by 2000,
by Robert Birsel, 650 words)
NAUDERO, Pakistan - Sounds of grief fill dusty air of
southern Pakistani village as more than 100,000 people attend
funeral of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto
(PAKISTAN-BHUTTO/FUNERAL (UPDATE 2), moved at 1229, picture,
tv, by Faisal Aziz, 700)
KARACHI - Troops are called out to quell some of Pakistan's
worst political violence in years after Bhutto's assassination;
Officials say 31 people, including four policemen, are killed
(PAKISTAN/VIOLENCE (UPDATE 7), moved at 1722, pix, by Imtiaz
Shah, 700 words)
WASHINGTON - Al Qaeda, blamed by Pakistan for the murder of
opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, has shown it can dramatically
thwart U.S. foreign policy more than six years after President
Bush set out to defeat it (PAKISTAN-USA/QAEDA
(ANALYSIS), expect by 2200, by Randall Mikkelsen, 600 words)
WASHINGTON - The void left by slain opposition leader
Benazir Bhutto presents the United States with a meager
selection of Pakistani partners ranging from an unpopular
military strongman to a controversial former prime minister
(PAKISTAN-USA/VOID (ANALYSIS), expect by 2000, by Paul Eckert,
600 words)
LONDON - With Pakistan facing deepening instability in wake
of Benazir Bhutto's assassination, security experts fear
country's nuclear assets could well be compromised or fall into
hands of Islamic militants (PAKISTAN-NUCLEAR/ (ANALYSIS), moved
at 1642, by Luke Baker, 700 words)
See also PAKISTAN-NUCLEAR/THREAT (FACTBOX), moved at 1726
See also PAKISTAN/PEOPLE, moved at 0903, pix, by Kamran
Haider, 700 words; PAKISTAN-BHUTTO/FUNERAL (FACTBOX), moved at
1207; PAKISTAN-CRISIS/BHUTTO (CHRONOLOGY), moved at 1200
PAKISTAN REACTION
NEW DELHI - India has put its border forces in "high state
of vigil" and suspends train and bus links after assassination
of Benazir Bhutto raised spectre of chaos in Pakistan spilling
over to its nuclear-armed neighbor (PAKISTAN-INDIA/REACTION
(UPDATE 4), moved at 1423, by Alistair Scrutton, 900 words)
KENYA VOTE
NAIROBI - Kenya's opposition challenger Raila Odinga takes
the lead in the race to govern east Africa's biggest economy,
the vote count shows, while tempers fray over delays in the
counting process (KENYA-ELECTION/ (UPDATE 12), moved at 1807,
pix, tv, by Daniel Wallis and George Obulutsa, 700 words)
NAIROBI - Kenya's Nobel laureate, vice-president and nearly
a dozen government ministers lose parliamentary seats in polls
sweeping away some of nation's political old guard, TV tallies
show (KENYA-ELECTION/NAMES (UPDATE 1), moved at 1502, by Daniel
Wallis and Wangui Kanina, 700 words)
See also KENYA-ELECTION/KIBAKI (FACTBOX), moved at 0741,
450 words; KENYA-ELECTION/ODINGA (FACTBOX), moved at 0741, 350
words; KENYA-ELECTION/ODINGA (NEWSMAKER), moved at 1322, pix,
by Katie Nguyen, 850 words
STORIES BY REGION OR SUBJECT
MIDDLE EAST
HEBRON, West Bank - Palestinian militants kill two off-duty
Israeli soldiers who were hiking near the West Bank city of
Hebron, in a clash that leaves two of the gunmen dead, Israeli
and Palestinian security sources say
(PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL/SHOOTING (UPDATE 5), moved at 1624, by
Mamoun Wazwaz, 650 words)
BEIRUT - Lebanon's presidential election is postponed to
Jan. 12 from Saturday, prolonging a power vacuum that threatens
to further destabilise the country (LEBANON-PRESIDENT/ (UPDATE
4), moved at 1742, by Laila Bassam, 600 words)
EUROPE
PARIS - Six French aid workers sentenced to hard labour in
Chad for trying to kidnap 103 children flew out of the African
nation on Friday bound for France where they are due to serve
their sentences in jail (CHAD-FRANCE/ (UPDATE 5), expect by
1930, tv, pix, by James Mackenzie, 600 words)
See also CHAD-FRANCE/CHRONOLOGY (CHRONOLOGY), moved at
1425, 400 words; CHAD-FRANCE/TRIAL (FACTBOX), moved at 1402,
400 words
BELGRADE - Serbia is telling Serbs in Kosovo to ignore
Albanian declaration of independence early next year, raising
prospect of ethnic partition of breakaway province that West
has long ruled out (SERBIA-KOSOVO/PARTITION, moved at 1351, by
Matt Robinson, 600 words)
AMERICAS
MANCHESTER, N.H. - Republicans Mitt Romney and John McCain
lock horns in New Hampshire, an early voting state in the
battle to represent their party in next year's U.S.
presidential election (USA-POLITICS/ROMNEY-MCCAIN, moved at
moved at 1806, pix, by Caren Bohan and Scott Malone, 700 words)
CARACAS - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez aims to send
aircraft into Colombia to pick up three hostages from Marxist
rebels and score diplomatic victory after recent setbacks for
his socialist revolution (COLOMBIA-HOSTAGES/ (UPDATE 2), moved
at 1852, pix, tv, by Frank Jack Daniel, 550 words)
ASIA-PACIFIC
BEIJING - China and Japan make no major breakthroughs in
resolving row over natural resources in East China Sea, but
visit by Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda signals new
warmth in bilateral relations (CHINA-JAPAN/ (UPDATE 5), moved
at 1636, pix, tv, by Teruaki Ueno and Lindsay Beck, 800 words)
KATHMANDU - Nepal's provisional parliament approves motion
to abolish the monarchy as part of negotiations with former
Maoist rebels to move peace deal forward, parliament officials
say (NEPAL-PARLIAMENT/MONARCHY (UPDATE 2), moved at 1518, by
Gopal Sharma, 600 words)
GUWAHATI, India - Bhutan tightens security and temporarily
closes borders before historic vote next week to elect upper
house of parliament, its first tentative move toward democracy
from century of absolute monarchy (BHUTAN-ELECTION/ (PREVIEW),
moved at 1003, pix, by Biswajyoti Das, 560 words)
AFRICA
JOHANNESBURG - South African prosecutors have ordered ANC
leader Jacob Zuma to stand trial on corruption charges, his
lawyer says, in a move which could derail his hopes of
succeeding Thabo Mbeki as the country's president
(SAFRICA-ZUMA/CHARGES (UPDATE 3), expect by 1930, by Paul
Simao, 500 words)
