LONDON | Wed Dec 19, 2012 7:40am EST LONDON (Reuters) - Britain ordered a new investigation into the deaths of 96 soccer fans in the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster on Wednesday, three months after an independent report suggested the police had tried to cover up their mishandling of the tragedy. Home Secretary (interior minister) Theresa May said the ...

LONDON | Wed Dec 19, 2012 7:38am EST LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will withdraw nearly half of its 9,000 soldiers from Afghanistan by the end of next year as Afghan national forces take on a bigger role, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Wednesday. Nearly all of Britain's soldiers are due to pull out by the end of 2014, drawing to an end a long, costly ...

By Maria Sheahan and Ben Hirschler FRANKFURT | Wed Dec 19, 2012 7:36am EST FRANKFURT (Reuters) - An experimental lung cancer vaccine from Germany's Merck KGaA failed to improve survival in a pivotal study, dealing a blow to the company and the high-risk field of using vaccines to fight tumors. Stimuvax, which Merck licensed from U.S. biotech firm...

Wed Dec 19, 2012 7:09am EST (Reuters) - Biopharmaceutical company Oncothyreon Inc said a late-stage trial of its experimental lung cancer drug did not meet the main study goal of improving overall survival. The drug, codenamed L-BLP25, is being tested in patients with unresectable, locally advanced stage IIIA or stage IIIB, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).The ...

By Giles Elgood CAIRO | Wed Dec 19, 2012 6:52am EST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian Islamist groups are planning a mass protest in Alexandria on Friday, a move that will raise tensions a day before the final stage of a referendum on a new constitution that has split the nation. The rally announced by the Muslim Brotherhood responds to a violent confro...

By Arshad Mohammed, Anna Yukhananov and Tabassum Zakaria WASHINGTON | Wed Dec 19, 2012 6:28am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Security at the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya was grossly inadequate to deal with a September 11 attack that killed a U.S. ambassador and three others because of failures within the State Department, an official inquiry found...

LONDON | Wed Dec 19, 2012 6:15am EST LONDON (Reuters) - London will get the chance to recreate the magic of 2012 after being chosen to host the 2017 Paralympic athletics world championships, Mayor Boris Johnson said on Wednesday. The event will be held just a month before the Olympic Stadium hosts the IAAF world athletics championships, making London the...

Wed Dec 19, 2012 3:21am EST (Reuters) - The Golden State Warriors staved off a late fourth-quarter challenge to beat New Orleans Hornets 103-96 for a successful home return on Tuesday. David Lee had 26 points and nine rebounds while Klay Thompson added 19 points as the Warriors triumphed in their first game at Oracle Arena since a recent seven-game road trip that...

By Simon Evans MIAMI | Wed Dec 19, 2012 12:28am EST MIAMI (Reuters) - The Miami Heat overcame a 28-point rebounding differential to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 103-92 on Tuesday with Dwyane Wade top scoring with 24 points. The Timberwolves slaughtered Miami 52-24 on the boards, with Kevin Love winning 18 of the rebounds and Montenegrin Nikola...

Tue Dec 18, 2012 9:53pm EST (Reuters) - Mark Sanchez's tenure with the New York Jets appears in jeopardy as the National Football League (NFL) team said on Monday it is benching the struggling quarterback in favor of Greg McElroy. McElroy, who was the Jets' third string quarterback behind Sanchez and backup Tim Tebow, will start against the San Diego Chargers on ...

Tue Dec 18, 2012 9:53pm EST (Reuters) - Koji Uehara hopes his injury woes are a thing of the past so he can reward Major League Baseball's (MLB) Boston Red Sox for the faith they showed in him, the Japanese right-handed reliever said on Tuesday. Uehara, who helped the Texas Rangers reach the 2011 World Series, missed over a month of last season with a right lat s...

By Gerry Shih and Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO | Tue Dec 18, 2012 9:45pm EST SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Instagram, which spurred suspicions this week that it would sell user photos after revising its terms of service, has sparked renewed debate about how much control over personal data users must give up to live and participate in a world steepe...

WASHINGTON | Tue Dec 18, 2012 8:57pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which had been expected to wrap up an anti-trust probe into Google within days, will now delay its decision for weeks, a source said on Tuesday. Google has been accused of giving competitors in lucrative areas like travel a lower ranking in search results,...

By Dan Levine Tue Dec 18, 2012 8:54pm EST (Reuters) - Google's Motorola Mobility unit cannot assert a patent against Apple Inc which covers a sensor that stops phone users from dialing wrong numbers on touchscreen devices, a U.S. trade judge ruled. In an entry on the U.S. International Trade Commission docket on Tuesday, Administrative Law Judge Thomas Pe...

Tue Dec 18, 2012 7:38pm EST (Reuters) - U.S. cigarette makers including Philip Morris USA and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co said on Tuesday they reached a settlement with 17 states in a long-running dispute over the amount of payments they are required to make under the 1998 landmark anti-smoking agreement. Under the settlement, the states will receive their share of ...

By Jim Finkle BOSTON | Tue Dec 18, 2012 5:29pm EST BOSTON (Reuters) - Oracle Corp's quarterly profit beat Wall Street expectations on strong software sales growth, suggesting that the approach of the "fiscal cliff" has yet to crimp corporate spending on technology. Shares of the world's No. 3 software maker rose 2.6 percent on the news."I would c...

By Thomas Ferraro and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON | Tue Dec 18, 2012 6:12pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans tried to wring more tax-rate concessions out of the White House on Tuesday as political maneuvering intensified over an agreement to keep the U.S. economy from tumbling off the "fiscal cliff" next year. Markets rallied on hopes for a de...

By Yasmine Saleh and Shaimaa Fayed CAIRO | Tue Dec 18, 2012 6:12pm EST CAIRO (Reuters) - Opponents of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi staged protests in Cairo on Tuesday against an Islamist-backed draft constitution that has divided Egypt but looks set to be approved in the second half of a referendum this weekend. Several hundred protesters out...

By Doug Palmer WASHINGTON | Tue Dec 18, 2012 6:02pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday pressed forward with plans to slap steep punitive duties on wind turbine towers imported from China at prices deemed unfairly low, even as officials welcomed a high-level Chinese delegation for trade and economic talks. The U.S. Commerce De...

Tue Dec 18, 2012 5:51pm EST (Reuters) - U.S. cigarette makers including Philip Morris USA and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co on Tuesday said they reached a settlement with 17 states to resolve a long-running dispute over the amount of payments they are required to make under the 1998 landmark anti-smoking agreement. Under the agreement, the states will receive their po...

By Paul-Marin Ngoupana and Madjiasra Naka Tue Dec 18, 2012 5:50pm EST BANGUI/N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Chad sent troops into neighboring Central African Republic on Tuesday to help the government there stop a rapid advance by rebels that risks sparking a new spiral of violence in the mineral-rich nation. The rebels killed 15 government soldiers during the cap...

WASHINGTON | Tue Dec 18, 2012 5:48pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday it has reached a settlement with Pearson Plc's Penguin Group in the government's investigation of alleged price-setting in the e-book market. In a statement, the Justice Department's antitrust office said it will continue to press its case against ...

SAN FRANCISCO | Tue Dec 18, 2012 5:47pm EST SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Instagram, the popular photo-sharing service owned by Facebook Inc, said on Tuesday it has "no plans" to incorporate user photos into ads in response to a growing public outcry over new privacy policies unveiled this week. Instagram Chief Executive Kevin Systrom said in a blog post tha...

By Shurna Robbins GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands | Tue Dec 18, 2012 5:44pm EST GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands (Reuters) - Lawmakers in the Cayman Islands passed a vote of no confidence on Tuesday ousting embattled Premier McKeeva Bush from office one week after he was arrested on suspicion of corruption. Members of parliament voted 11 to 3 with one abs...

By Patricia Zengerle and Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON | Tue Dec 18, 2012 5:43pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers on Tuesday opened the door to a national debate about gun control following the Connecticut school massacre, a small sign of easing in Washington's reluctance to seriously consider new federal weapons restrictions. Republic...

By David Ingram WASHINGTON | Tue Dec 18, 2012 5:40pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The National Rifle Association said on Tuesday it wanted to contribute meaningfully to prevent another massacre like the Connecticut shooting, suggesting a sharp change in tone for the largest U.S. gun rights group. "The National Rifle Association of America is made u...

By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS | Tue Dec 18, 2012 5:18pm EST UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo found that 126 rapes were committed in an eastern town after Congolese troops fled there last month as rebels advanced on the provincial capital of Goma, the United Nations said on Tuesday. Congolese tro...

LOS ANGELES | Tue Dec 18, 2012 5:14pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The premiere for Quentin Tarantino's latest film "Django Unchained," a violent spaghetti Western slave revenge tale, was canceled on Monday in the wake of the school shooting in Connecticut last week, the film's studio said. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the tragedy i...

By Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK | Tue Dec 18, 2012 5:14pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rallied on strong volume on Tuesday, capping off the S&P 500's best two-day run in a month, on confidence that a deal would be struck in Washington to avoid painful spending cuts and tax hikes that could hurt the economy. Banks, energy and technology - s...

By Patrick Lang MADONNA DI CAMPIGLIO, Italy | Tue Dec 18, 2012 5:07pm EST MADONNA DI CAMPIGLIO, Italy (Reuters) - Austria's Marcel Hirscher finished 2012 in style with his second victory of the winter in a floodlit slalom in Madonna di Campiglio, his last race of the year. The reigning overall World Cup champion won both runs and destroyed the fi...

LOS ANGELES | Tue Dec 18, 2012 4:59pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - While this year's pop charts have been dominated by young singers, it is veteran music stars, led by Madonna, who are commanding big money in tour ticket sales, according to a new Billboard list released on Tuesday. Madonna, 54, topped Billboard's list of highest-grossing live tours, earni...

WASHINGTON | Tue Dec 18, 2012 4:57pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has eliminated more than 20 of al Qaeda's top 30 leaders based in Afghanistan and Pakistan from the battlefield since Barack Obama became president, a top U.S. government security official said on Tuesday. Daniel Benjamin, head of the State Department's counterterrorism bur...

By John Irish and Louis Charbonneau PARIS/UNITED NATIONS | Tue Dec 18, 2012 4:55pm EST PARIS/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - France said on Tuesday it would address U.S. concerns about a military mission to retake northern Mali from Islamist rebels and hoped for a Security Council vote this week, but U.N. envoys said a French-U.S. agreement on the iss...

By Thomas Ferraro and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON | Tue Dec 18, 2012 6:12pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans tried to wring more tax-rate concessions out of the White House on Tuesday as political maneuvering intensified over an agreement to keep the U.S. economy from tumbling off the "fiscal cliff" next year. Markets rallied on hopes for a de...

DUBAI | Tue Dec 18, 2012 4:46pm EST DUBAI (Reuters) - A former Iranian diplomat arrested in London for trying to export night-vision weapons' sights to Iran arrived back in Tehran on Tuesday after winning a six-year legal battle in Britain. A British court last month blocked the extradition of Nosratollah Tajik, wanted by the United States after agents f...

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK | Tue Dec 18, 2012 4:45pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - One in nine people with diabetes saw their blood sugar levels dip back to a normal or "pre-diabetes" level after a year on an intensive diet and exercise program, in a new study. Complete remission of type 2 diabetes is still very rare, researchers said. But the...

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK | Tue Dec 18, 2012 4:44pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Rescue and recovery workers who provided aid after the World Trade Center attacks may have an increased risk of certain types of cancer, including prostate and thyroid cancers, a new study suggests. However, that finding was based on a relatively small number of...

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK | Tue Dec 18, 2012 4:41pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - U.S. Veterans Affairs hospitals were able to reduce their patients' length of stay without increasing the number of people who needed to be readmitted later on, according to a new study. "As hospitals became more efficient there was this growing concern that we...

By Liana B. Baker Tue Dec 18, 2012 4:30pm EST (Reuters) - Time Warner Cable, the second-largest cable TV distributor in the United States, said on Tuesday it is planning to drop arts-focused cable channel Ovation, citing its low ratings relative to the cost of carrying the network. Time Warner Cable said in a statement that Ovation is one of its "poorest ...

By Zorianna Kit LOS ANGELES | Tue Dec 18, 2012 4:21pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Days after the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, actress Naomi Watts took part in a fundraising telethon spearheaded by George Clooney to help the region's hundreds of thousands of people in 14 nations whose lives were shattered. Little did Watts know that eigh...