Rousseff takes over booming Brazil, tests await

Rousseff takes over booming Brazil, tests await


Rousseff takes over booming Brazil, tests await

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 10:02 PM PST

BRASILIA (Reuters) - When Dilma Rousseff is sworn in on Saturday as Brazil's next president, she will take the reins of an emerging giant with a booming economy, vast new oil reserves and growing international diplomatic clout.


Nigerian New Year's blast kills four

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 03:31 PM PST

At least four people were killed and another 13 wounded Friday in a bomb blast at an army barracks in Abuja, Nigeria, the deputy police commissioner said.


Freed Indian rebel leader invites peace dialogue (AP)

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 09:54 PM PST

AP - A separatist leader released on bail Saturday said he was committed to peace talks with the Indian government to end his group's 30-year insurgency in the northeastern state of Assam.


Kan Vows to Push for Free-Trade Deal

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 09:56 PM PST

Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan said he will focus this year on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and will seek the overhaul of Japan's agricultural sector that would be required to join the pact.


New Year's Eve 2011: A Guide to the TV Celebrations

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 02:21 PM PST

What channel should you watch to ring in 2011? A guide to what's on TV.


Japan population shrinks by record in 2010 (AP)

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 09:24 PM PST

AP - Japan's government says the population fell by a record amount last year, as the number of deaths climbed to an all-time high in the quickly aging country.


How Marine Le Pen is Changing the Face of France's Far-Right (Time.com)

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 07:40 PM PST

Time.com - Championing the same extreme-right policies, but using more moderate language, Marine Le Pen is running to succeed her father Jean-Marie as leader of France's National Front Party -- and gaining the kind of support that makes the mainstream nervous


Anglican leader focuses on 'big picture' in New Year (AFP)

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 09:10 PM PST

File photo of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who said people needed to reflect on the AFP - The leader of the world's Anglicans said people needed to reflect on the "big picture" in 2011, however remote it might seem as they battle personally with the global financial downturn's repercussions.



'Biblical' floods threaten thousands in Australia (AFP)

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 09:07 PM PST

An aerial photo shows the Fairbairn Dam spilling into the Queensland town of Emerald. About 80 percent of the town has been submerged by the worst flooding on record with water from the Nogoa River inundating some 1,000 homes.(AFP/Pool/File/Jono Searle)AFP - Flood waters swept through vast areas of northeastern Australia Saturday, threatening to inundate thousands more homes in a disaster one official said was of "biblical proportions".



US missiles kill 6 in northwest Pakistan (AP)

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 08:46 PM PST

A soldier stands guard close to the Pakistan-Afghan border in North Waziristan. US drones have killed at least five militants in the lawless Pakistani region, security officials have said.(AFP/Pool/File/Anjum Naveed)AP - A U.S. missile strike on a moving vehicle killed at least six people near the Afghan border Saturday, two Pakistani intelligence officials said.



Seven dead, 24 injured in attack on church in Egypt (AFP)

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 07:48 PM PST

Egyptians inspect a car bomb following an attack on a Christian church in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria on January 1, 2011. At least seven people died and 24 were injured in the attack(AFP)AFP - At least seven people died and 24 were injured early Saturday in a New Year's Day car bomb attack on a church in Alexandria, hitting Egypt's Christian community, the biggest in the Middle East.



NKorea warns war will bring "nuclear holocaust" (AP)

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 07:38 PM PST

South Korea's capital Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, second from left, and participants hit a huge traditional bell to welcome the New Year at the Bosingak pavilion in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Jan. 1, 2011 (AP Photo/Jo Yong-Hak, Pool)AP - North Korea welcomed the new year Saturday with a push for better ties with rival South Korea, warning that war "will bring nothing but a nuclear holocaust."



Bolivia's Morales scraps fuel hike after protests

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 07:49 PM PST

LA PAZ (Reuters) - Leftist Bolivian President Evo Morales on Friday reversed a hefty fuel price increase that sparked nationwide protests, landing him with one of the biggest crises of his five years in power.


Tornadoes leave trail of wreckage in US

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 07:09 PM PST

A series of tornadoes in the south and mid-western US kills six people, injures several others and causes power failures for thousands in the region.


Floods cover vast area of Australia's northeast

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 08:01 PM PST

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Floodwater rose across a vast area in Australia's northeast on Friday, inundating 22 towns, forcing 200,000 residents out of their homes, and closing a major sugar export port.


Bomb Kills 30 at Army Barracks in Nigeria

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 01:12 PM PST

An explosion tore through a beer garden at a Nigerian army barracks where revelers had gathered to celebrate New Year's Eve, and a top air force official said it was caused by a "planted bomb."


Ivory Coast Leader Calls Bid to Oust Him a Coup

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 01:25 PM PST

Ivory Coast's incumbent leader who refuses to cede power is describing international efforts to oust him a "coup d'etat."


Bomb Hits Church in Egypt at New Year's Mass

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 06:02 PM PST

An explosion went off in front of a Coptic Christian church as worshippers emerged from a New Year's Mass in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, killing at least seven people, officials said.


North Korea cargo ship sinks; 2 dead, 15 missing (Reuters)

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 06:59 PM PST

Reuters - Two sailors were killed and 15 are missing after a North Korean-registered cargo ship sank in the Yellow Sea on Friday, state news agency Xinhua reported late on Friday.


Japan's population logs biggest fall since WWII (AFP)

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 07:25 PM PST

An elderly woman prays before an altar in Hiroshima, Japan. The country's population shrank by a record margin in 2010 as the nation rapidly ages, according to an annual estimate released by the welfare ministry Saturday.(AFP/File/Yoshikazu Tsuno)AFP - Japan's population shrank by a record margin in 2010 as the nation rapidly ages, according to an annual estimate released by the welfare ministry Saturday.