Central African Republic rebels halt advance, agree to peace talks

DAMARA, Central African Republic (Reuters) - Rebels in Central African Republic said they had halted their advance on the capital on Wednesday and agreed to start peace talks, averting a clash with regionally backed troops.The Seleka rebels had pushed to within striking distance of Bangui after a three-week onslaught and threatened to oust President Francois Bozize, accusing him of reneging on a previous...

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Malala's father given diplomatic role in UK

The father of a teenage Pakistani activist shot in the head by Taliban for advocating girls' education has been given a diplomatic post in the U.K.Malala Yousufzai has been recovering at a hospital in Birmingham, England, after she was shot in October in Pakistan. The Taliban have vowed to target her again.Pakistan's High Commissioner to Britain, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, confirmed a BBC report Wednesday...

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American journalist missing in Syria

 An American journalist has been missing in Syria since he was kidnapped more than one month ago, his family said Wednesday, less than two years after he was held by government forces in Libya while covering that country's civil war.The family of James Foley, of Rochester, N.H., said he was kidnapped in northwest Syria by unknown gunmen on Thanksgiving day.Foley, 39, has worked in a number of...

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U.N. worried about reports of air strikes in Myanmar

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced concern on Wednesday at reports of air strikes in Myanmar's Kachin State, where a 20-month conflict between government troops and rebels has been escalating."(Ban) has taken serious note of the most recent reports indicating air strikes against targets in Kachin State," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said in a statement."While details...

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Wall Street ends sour week with fifth straight decline

 Stocks fell for a fifth straight day on Friday, dropping 1 percent and marking the S&P 500's longest losing streak in three months as the federal government edged closer to the "fiscal cliff" with no solution in sight.President Barack Obama and top congressional leaders met at the White House to work on a solution for the draconian debt-reduction measures set to take effect beginning next...

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Wall Street Week Ahead: Cliff may be a fear, but debt ceiling much scarier

 Investors fearing a stock market plunge - if the United States tumbles off the "fiscal cliff" next week - may want to relax.But they should be scared if a few weeks later, Washington fails to reach a deal to increase the nation's debt ceiling because that raises the threat of a default, another credit downgrade and a panic in the financial markets.Market strategists say that while falling off...

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Stung Bankia investors look to courts for justice

 Spanish savers and pensioners who have seen their money wiped out by investing in state-rescued lender Bankia are likely to seek redress in court rather than wait for any official inquiry, which looks increasingly unlikely.About 350,000 stockholders will share the pain of the bank's European bailout, many of them bank clients who were sold the shares through an aggressive marketing campaign...

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