CONAKRY | Tue Dec 11, 2012 11:18am EST CONAKRY (Reuters) - Two people died and several others were injured in overnight clashes in Guinea between opposition militants and government supporters, a police source and witnesses said on Tuesday. The violence in the town of Gueckedou, around 700 km (420 miles) from ...

By Yasmine Saleh and Marwa Awad CAIRO | Tue Dec 11, 2012 11:18am EST CAIRO (Reuters) - A vital $4.8 billion International Monetary Fund loan to Egypt will be delayed until next month, its finance minister said on Tuesday, intensifying the political crisis gripping the Arab world's most populous nation. As rival factions gathered in Cairo and Alex...

Tue Dec 11, 2012 11:14am EST (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc Chief Executive Marissa Mayer on Tuesday introduced a new version of Yahoo Mail, making one of company's most popular products faster and cleaner, with a consistent look across all devices. The new version, which Mayer unveiled in a blog post, will be available on all major platforms, including Windows 8, iPhone ...

By Dominic Evans BEIRUT | Tue Dec 11, 2012 11:14am EST BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels clashed with forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad near Damascus airport on Tuesday, battling for the capital's outskirts after 20 months of conflict which the United Nations said has driven half a million people from the country. Fighting near the airport...

By Chris Wickham LONDON | Tue Dec 11, 2012 11:13am EST LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists in Switzerland have come up with a material mimicking the way tendons connect to bones, which could speed the development of stretchy, wearable electronic devices. The stretchable electronics industry is in its in...

By Daren Butler ISTANBUL | Tue Dec 11, 2012 11:12am EST ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's decade-old battle with secularist opponents in Turkey is approaching a decisive moment as nearly 300 people charged with attempting the violent overthrow of his government prepare their fin...

By Barry Moody ROME | Tue Dec 11, 2012 11:09am EST ROME (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi's decision to stand in Italian elections increases the risk of a large populist bloc in parliament that could severely hinder attempts to continue the legacy of outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti. Monti, the man foreign governments and investors desperately wan...

By Andrew Cawthorne and Marianna Parraga CARACAS | Tue Dec 11, 2012 11:02am EST CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez underwent surgery in Cuba on Tuesday for a recurrence of cancer that has thrown his future into jeopardy and upended politics in the South American OPEC nation. "My dear friend and colleague, Comandante Hugo Chavez,...

Tue Dec 11, 2012 10:57am EST (Reuters) - Go Daddy, one of the world's largest web hosting companies, appointed Yahoo Inc's former Chief Product Officer Blake Irving as chief executive. Irving's appointment will be effective January 7, 2013. He succeeds Go Daddy's interim CEO since July, Scott Wagner.(Reporting by Neha Alawadhi in Bangalore; Editing by Joyjeet Da...

By Tshepo Tshabalala JOHANNESBURG | Tue Dec 11, 2012 10:53am EST JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Former South African President Nelson Mandela, who is 94 and has been in hospital since Saturday for tests, has suffered a recurrence of a lung infection but is responding to treatment, the government said on Tuesday. The revered anti-apartheid leader and No...

By Tiemoko Diallo and Adama Diarra BAMAKO | Tue Dec 11, 2012 10:51am EST BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's prime minister was forced to resign on Tuesday by the soldiers who staged a coup in March, complicating international efforts to help push Islamists from the north of the country. Once a beacon of democracy in West Africa, Mali has been mired in cri...

By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN | Tue Dec 11, 2012 10:32am EST AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan's King Abdullah ordered the release of more than one hundred protesters detained after calling for his downfall during last month's fuel price riots, officials said. The king pardoned the protesters after meeting with tribal leaders, who demanded their release an...

RIO DE JANEIRO | Tue Dec 11, 2012 9:29am EST RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva knew about and used funds from a far-reaching vote-buying scheme to pay for personal expenses, according to testimony by a convicted former consultant to the ruling Workers' Party. The testimony, reported on Tuesday by the Estado d...

Tue Dec 11, 2012 8:55am EST (Reuters) - Digital whiteboard maker SMART Technologies Inc said it would reduce its workforce by nearly 25 percent during the third and fourth quarters. The company had 1,525 employees as of March 31, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities Exchange.SMART Technologies, which cut about 70 jobs in August and 225 jobs last year, a...

Tue Dec 11, 2012 8:49am EST (Reuters) - Cable maker Belden Inc said it bought privately held PPC, which makes connectors used in broadband and wireless services, for $515.7 million to strengthen its position in the broadcast industry. Belden, which makes networking products for the broadcast and consumer electronics industries, has been buying connector companies...

Tue Dec 11, 2012 8:16am EST (Reuters) - Patent licensing company Wi-LAN Inc said on Tuesday it has filed a lawsuit against BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd for infringing on a patent that relates to Bluetooth technology. The company said it filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against the BlackBerry maker.Wi-LAN, which has ...

By Malathi Nayak SAN FRANCISCO | Tue Dec 11, 2012 8:02am EST SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Warner Bros Entertainment Inc and MGM Studios Inc have joined forces to invest an undisclosed amount in the privately-held, social and mobile gaming company, Kabam Inc, the games maker said on Tuesday. San Francisco-based Kabam, which is known for its popular "...

CANBERRA | Tue Dec 11, 2012 1:27am EST CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's Lynas Corp Ltd said on Tuesday its operating license for its controversial rare earth plant in Malaysia remains issued and valid, responding to recent media reports on processing of radioactive residue. Lynas must export by-product created by operations at the Malaysian plant or risk...

SAN FRANCISCO | Mon Dec 10, 2012 10:36pm EST SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Several Google Inc Web products, including the popular Gmail service, appeared to go dark for users on several continents on Monday. Google confirmed that "service disruptions" had affected Gmail and Google Drive, its online storage service. The two products are part of Google's Apps ...

By Gerry Shih SAN FRANCISCO | Mon Dec 10, 2012 7:59pm EST SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Twitter on Monday introduced the ability to add color filters to user-uploaded photos, a step that sharpened its budding rivalry with Facebook Inc. Twitter's filters mimic the popular feature that has defined Instagram, the booming photo service acquired by Facebo...

By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON | Mon Dec 10, 2012 7:45pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House and House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner's office held more negotiations on Monday on ways to break the "fiscal cliff" stalemate, although neither side showed any public signs that they were ready to give ground. The talks gained urgency afte...

TOKYO | Mon Dec 10, 2012 7:36pm EST TOKYO (Reuters) - Hawkish former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its smaller coalition partner are on track for a resounding victory in Sunday's election, winning more than 300 seats in the 480-member lower house, media surveys showed on Tuesday. The Sankei and Mainichi newspap...

Mon Dec 10, 2012 7:24pm EST (Reuters) - The Los Angeles Dodgers, who have enjoyed major contributions by international players over the decades, welcomed South Korean left-handed starting pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin to the team on Monday. The Dodgers, who spent $25.7 million for exclusive rights to negotiate with Ryu, struck a six-year, $36 million deal with the pitcher...

By Simon Evans Mon Dec 10, 2012 7:23pm EST (Reuters) - The tragic, unrelated deaths of two National Football League (NFL) players this month may have triggered fresh debate about the behavior of some of the sport's competitors, but has done nothing to harm the game's enormous popularity in the United States. Just over a week ago, Kansas City Chiefs lineba...

By Janet Roberts and Ryan McNeill Mon Dec 10, 2012 6:44pm EST (Reuters) - New Jersey lawmakers on Monday pressed the head of New Jersey Transit to explain $100 million in damage to rail cars and engines flooded during Superstorm Sandy, particularly why his agency stored hundreds of cars and locomotives in low-lying railyards. Executive Director James Wein...

By Louis Charbonneau NEW YORK | Mon Dec 10, 2012 6:36pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the United Nations on Monday calling for an end to Chinese rule in Tibet, where dozens of Tibetans have set themselves on fire in recent weeks to protest China's control of their homeland. The "Solidarity Rally for Tibet" c...

By Rob Taylor CANBERRA | Mon Dec 10, 2012 6:25pm EST CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australian police have warned travellers off using Apple's troubled iPhone mapping software after several motorists became stuck in a snake-infested, desert corner of the country while using their phone for directions. Police in southeast Victoria state said they had been f...

By Ayesha Rascoe WASHINGTON | Mon Dec 10, 2012 6:14pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Energy Department will not give A123 Systems Inc. the balance of a $249 million grant, a department official said on Monday, a day after the bankrupt battery maker was bought by a Chinese company. The official, who asked not to be identified because the proc...

By David Beasley ATLANTA | Mon Dec 10, 2012 5:57pm EST ATLANTA (Reuters) - A Georgia state agency on Monday approved terms for a new $1 billion stadium for the Atlanta Falcons football team that would replace the Georgia Dome and would be partly financed by $300 million in revenue from a hotel tax. The Georgia World Congress Center Authority sign...

By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS | Mon Dec 10, 2012 5:55pm EST UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Northern Mali, plagued by Islamist extremists and gripped by an aid disaster, is "one of the potentially most explosive corners of the world," the United Nations warned on Monday, as the United States and France differed over how to tackle the crisis. Almo...

By Andrew Cawthorne and Brian Ellsworth CARACAS | Mon Dec 10, 2012 5:45pm EST CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez flew to Cuba on Monday for cancer surgery, with a vow to return quickly despite conceding for the first time that the disease could end his 14-year rule of the South American OPEC nation. "I leave full of hope. We are...

By David Alexander WASHINGTON | Mon Dec 10, 2012 5:34pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Attacks by Taliban insurgents rose slightly during the main part of the Afghan fighting season this year as some U.S. forces withdrew and the transition to a lead role for Afghan security forces picked up pace, according to a Pentagon report released on Monday. The...

By David Lawder WASHINGTON | Mon Dec 10, 2012 5:34pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Of the many distasteful elements to the year-end "fiscal cliff" that Washington is desperately trying to avoid, few are more loathed than the automatic, indiscriminate spending cuts scheduled to begin on January 2. Yet a repeat of this agonizing drama could play out n...

CAIRO | Mon Dec 10, 2012 5:32pm EST CAIRO (Reuters) - Opponents and supporters of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi's plans to vote on a new constitution will take to the streets in central Cairo later on Tuesday, risking more violent confrontation after last week's deadly clashes. Leftists, liberals and other opposition groups have called for marches to ...

Mon Dec 10, 2012 5:24pm EST (Reuters) - The big-spending Los Angeles Dodgers made it official on Monday, adding top free agent pitcher Zack Greinke to their impressive rotation after the right-hander passed his physical and signed a six-year, $147 million deal. Basketball Hall of Famer Magic Johnson, a co-owner of the team, tweeted enthusiastically: "Dodger Natio...

By Tife Owolabi and Tim Cocks OGWASHI-UKU/ABUJA | Mon Dec 10, 2012 5:21pm EST OGWASHI-UKU/ABUJA (Reuters) - The family of Nigeria's finance minister made an emotional appeal for kidnappers to free her 82-year-old mother on Monday, saying the elderly woman was in fragile health. Kamene Okonjo, mother of Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was ab...

By Steve Holland REDFORD, Michigan | Mon Dec 10, 2012 4:58pm EST REDFORD, Michigan (Reuters) - Making no visible headway in direct talks with Republicans, President Barack Obama took to the road on Monday to apply pressure on his political opponents to agree to a "fiscal cliff" deal that would raise taxes on the richest Americans. Wearing shirtsl...

LOS ANGELES | Mon Dec 10, 2012 4:39pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden thriller "Zero Dark Thirty," Iran hostage drama "Argo," indie comedy "Silver Linings Playbook," and mythological indie film "Beasts of the Southern Wild" made the year's top 10 films on Monday as picked by the American Film Institute (AFI). The AFI list, released at the sta...

By Miyoung Kim SEOUL | Mon Dec 10, 2012 4:39pm EST SEOUL (Reuters) - Liquid-crystal display (LCD) screens were expected to slowly fade and die, giving way to lighter, thinner and tougher organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels in everything from smartphones to televisions. But LCD is refusing to go quietly as its picture quality keeps getting ...

By Caroline Valetkevitch NEW YORK | Mon Dec 10, 2012 4:32pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks edged higher on Monday as technology shares bounced back after recent weakness and McDonald's posted strong monthly sales. Technology stocks were led by Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N), which climbed 2.6 percent to $14.16 on rumors that activist investor Carl I...