Reuters North American News Service, December 20th, 2007
Duty editor: David Storey
Photo queries: Asia Picture Desk
Graphics queries: +65 6870 3595
All times GMT (EST is five hours behind GMT)
BAGHDAD - Suicide bomber kills 14 people in Iraq
WASHINGTON - U.S. presidential race is still wide open
JOHANNESBURG - Prosecutor says has evidence to charge Zuma
BAQUBA, Iraq - Suicide bomber kills 13 neighbourhood patrol
volunteers and a U.S. soldier in Iraq's restive Diyala province
(IRAQ/ (WRAPUP 5), moved at 1632, by Peter Graff, 400 words)
WASHINGTON - President Bush says he is not satisfied with
political progress in Iraq but insists the Iraqi government is
making some advances (IRAQ/BUSH (UPDATE 1), moved at 1656, 400
words)
WASHINGTON - With no heir apparent in the running, U.S.
presidential race remains wide open for the Republicans and
Democrats just two weeks before the first vote in the U.S.
primary season (USA-POLITICS (WRAPUP 1), expect by 2000, by
Deborah Charles, 800 words)
WASHINGTON - Republican U.S. presidential candidate Rudy
Giuliani interrupts his campaign and checks into a Missouri
hospital with flu-like symptoms, according to media reports
(USA-POLITICS/GIULIANI (UPDATE 3), moved at 1228, 300 words)
WASHINGTON - President Bush says he won't be
"pundit-in-chief" and reveal his preferred candidate in the
2008 U.S. presidential race but hints at what he thinks are the
top qualifications for the job (USA-POLITICS/BUSH, moving
shortly, by Caren Bohan, 500 words)
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - For Republican Fred Thompson, the
former actor turned reluctant politician, the first few months
of his floundering bid to be U.S. president were just a warm-up
act. Now it is showtime (USA-POLITICS/THOMPSON, moved at 1437,
by John Whitesides, 600 words)
POLOKWANE, South Africa - Prosecutors say they are ready to
charge Jacob Zuma with graft, even as he takes over leadership
of South Africa's divided ruling party with a vow to restore
unity and encourage investors (SAFRICA-ZUMA/ (WRAPUP 2), moved
at 1846, tv, pix, by Paul Simao, 750 words)
See also: SAFRICA-ZUMA/PROSECUTION (UPDATE 5), moved at
1737, pix, tv, by Michael Georgy, 600 words;
SAFRICA-ZUMA/FUTURE, moved at 0812, by Wendell Roelf, 560
words; SAFRICA-FUTURE/ZUMA (FACTBOX), moved at 1044
DAMASCUS - Syria is working to help resolve Lebanon's
presidential crisis, the foreign minister says, responding to
reports that France's patience was wearing thin with Damascus
over a stalled presidential election (LEBANON-PRESIDENT/SYRIA
(UPDATE 1), moved at 1353, by Khaled Yacoub Oweis, 500 words)
WASHINGTON - President Bush warns Damascus
against interfering in Lebanon's political crisis, saying his
patience with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ran out long ago
(BUSH/SYRIA (UPDATE 2), moved at 1736, by Matt Spetalnick, 600
words)
GAZA - Israeli tanks and troops backed by helicopter
gunships raid central Gaza Strip, killing at least four
Palestinian gunmen, militant sources and hospital officials say
(PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL/VIOLENCE (UPDATE 3), moved at 1441, tv,
pix, graphic, by Nidal al-Mughrabi, 400 words)
BEIRUT - The world has promised to inject $7.4 billion into
decaying Palestinian economy, but World Bank and relief groups
say extra billions cannot stop rot unless Israel lifts curbs on
movement of people and goods (PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL/AID
(ANALYSIS), moved at 1234, by Alistair Lyon, 800 words)
WASHINGTON - The U.S. economy grew at its fastest rate in
four years during the third quarter, the government confirms,
but a surge in new claims for jobless benefits shows the labor
market is now softening (USA-ECONOMY (WRAPUP 2), moved at 1624,
by Glenn Somerville, 650 words)
LONDON - Strain in the money markets eases following a
concerted central bank pump priming operation, but fresh losses
at the fifth largest U.S. investment bank will test the
tentative improvement in sentiment (ECONOMY-CREDIT/ (WRAPUP 2),
moved at 1350, by Mike Peacock, 700 words)
SEOUL - South Korea's president-elect promises to put
economy first once he takes office and not to be shy about
telling prickly North Korea to mend its ways over nuclear
weapons and human rights (KOREA/ELECTION (UPDATE 4), moved at
0833, pix, tv, graphic, by Jonathan Thatcher, 830 words)
See also KOREA-ELECTION/LEE (NEWSMAKER), moved at 0622, by
Jon Herskovitz, 450 words; KOREA-ELECTION/ECONOMY, moved at
0517, by Yoo Choonsik, 650 words
WASHINGTON - As a Dec. 31 deadline draws near, the United
States still has a "mixed picture" of whether North Korea will
fully disclose its nuclear programs, a senior U.S. official
said in an interview (BC-KOREA-NORTH/USA, expect by 2000, by
Arshad Mohammed and Sue Pleming, 650 words)
HAVANA - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will assert his
regional leadership at Friday's summit in Cuba of Petrocaribe,
an offer of oil with soft financing even U.S. allies in the
Caribbean cannot refuse (ENERGY-VENEZUELA/PETROCARIBE, moved at
1429, by Anthony Boadle, 600 words)
DERA ALLAH YAR, Pakistan - Pakistani opposition leader
Benazir Bhutto says government has ordered security forces to
close her offices; intelligence agents are pressuring
candidates to drop out of January election (PAKISTAN-BHUTTO,
moved at 1214 a.m., pix, by Asim Tanveer, 600 words)
See also PAKISTAN/LAWYER (UPDATE 1), moved at 0820, pix, by
Robert Birsel, 600 words
LONDON - Spain seeks extradition of two Arab men for
alleged al Qaeda links, a day after the United States freed
them without charge from Guantanamo Bay and lets them fly to
Britain. (BRITAIN-GUANTANAMO/ (UPDATE 5), moved at 1846, by
Mark Trevelyan, pix, tv, 500 words)
MOSCOW - Dmitry Medvedev, almost certain to be Russia's
next president, formally applies to run in March election but
says he is nervous about "tough job" ahead in Kremlin
(RUSSIA-MEDVEDEV/ (UPDATE 1), moved at 1605, pix, tv, by Chris
Baldwin, 500 words)
See also RUSSIA-VOTE/KASYANOV (INTERVIEW), moved 1510, pix,
tv, by Christan Lowe, 600 words
WASHINGTON - President Bush says Russian
President Vladimir Putin was chosen "Person of the Year" by a
U.S. magazine for being a leader of consequence, but only time
will judge "to what end" (BUSH-PUTIN/, moved at 1848, by
Tabassum Zakaria, 580 words)
MOSCOW - Russia bans collection of Russian and French art
from travelling to Britain in new sign of poor relations
between Moscow and London (RUSSIA-BRITAIN/ART (UPDATE 1), moved
at 1724, by Conor Sweeeny, 500 words)
RIGA - At midnight, European Union's "Schengen zone,"
within which people can travel without showing passports,
extends west to group of mostly east European states: Poland,
Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech
Republic and Malta (EU-BORDERS/ (WRAPUP 1), expect by 2215, by
Patrick Lannin, 600 words)
BRUSSELS - European Union must be ready to guide Kosovo on
unstoppable path to independence after U.N. Security Council
fails to agree on the Serbian province's future, incoming EU
presidency says (SERBIA-KOSOVO/EU (UPDATE 2), moved at 1306, by
Paul Taylor, 550 words)
BEIJING - China's support has been vital to achieving
initial steps toward national reconciliation in Myanmar, an EU
envoy says, but adds Beijing will not directly pressure the
regime towards reform (MYANMAR-EU/CHINA (UPDATE 1), moved at
0818, pix, tv, graphic, by Lindsay Beck, 500 words)
BEIJING - China's four-month food safety campaign managed
to hit its targets early, with officials seizing thousands of
tainted products and putting many unregulated shops and
eateries out of business, a state newspaper says (CHINA-SAFETY/
(UPDATE 1), moved at 0806, pix, graphic, by Ben Blanchard, 500
words)
KINSHASA - Democratic Republic of Congo calls a peace
summit for Dec. 27 to try to end fighting between Tutsi
dissidents, government forces and other armed groups in its
violent North Kivu province (CONGO-DEMOCRATIC/PEACE, moved at
1656, by Kari Barber, 400 words)
NAIROBI - Kenya's opposition hopeful holds lead over
President Mwai Kibaki in two final polls, a week before
election some fear could provoke trouble in one of Africa's
most mature democracies (KENYA-ELECTION/ (UPDATE 1), moved at
1327, by Duncan Miriri and Nicolo Gnecchi, 540 words)
See also KENYA-ELECTION/COUNTRY (FACTBOX), moved at 1307,
500 words); KENYA-ELECTION/KIBAKI (FACTBOX), moved at 1208, 450
words; KENYA-ELECTION/ODINGA (FACTBOX), moved at 1203, 300
words and KENYA-ELECTION/CAMPAIGN (POLITICAL FEATURE), moved at
1341, pix, by C. Bryson Hull, 800 words
