Australian court approves record compensation payout to wildfire victims
SYDNEY (Reuters) – An Australian court has approved a record payout of almost A$500 million ($406 million) to survivors and families of some of the 173 people killed in the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, the country’s worst-ever natural disaster.
At U.N. council, U.S. calls life in North Korea ‘living nightmare’
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United States and other Western members of the U.N. Security Council on Monday slammed North Korea’s human rights record after voting to overrule China’s objections and add alleged grave abuses by the hermit state to the …
Internet outage seen in North Korea amid U.S. hacking dispute
WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) – North Korea, at the center of a confrontation with the United States over the hacking of Sony pictures, itself experienced Internet outages on Monday, a U.S. company that monitors Internet infrastructure said.
Man rams van into Christmas market in France
NANTES, France (Reuters) – A man ploughed a van into a crowded Christmas market in Nantes in western France on Monday, injuring at least 10 people in the country’s third violent attack in as many days.
U.S. at U.N. calls North Korea ‘living nightmare;’ China overruled
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United States and other Western members of the U.N. Security Council on Monday slammed North Korea’s human rights record after voting to over-rule China’s objections and add the hermit state to the council’s agenda.
Veteran Essebsi wins Tunisia’s first free presidential vote
TUNIS (Reuters) – Veteran Tunisian politician Beji Caid Essebsi won the country’s first free presidential election in the final step of a transition to democracy after an uprising that ousted autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.
Bombs in north Nigeria bus station, market kill 27
ABUJA/MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) – Two bomb attacks at a bus station and a market in north Nigeria on Monday killed at least 27 people and wounded around 60, officials said.
Record number at Germany’s anti-immigrant rally
DRESDEN, Germany (Reuters) – More than 17,000 people took part in Germany’s largest anti-immigrant rally to date on Monday in the eastern city of Dresden, gathering to sing Christmas carols and listen to speakers complain about immigrants and asylum-se…
U.S. says North Korea call for joint probe of Sony hack ‘absurd’
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Washington’s U.N. envoy on Monday dismissed as absurd North Korean demands for a joint U.S.-North Korean investigation of the hacking of Sony Pictures and threats of retaliation if the United States refused.
Jordan puts Brotherhood politician on trial over UAE comments
AMMAN (Reuters) – Prominent Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood figure Zaki Bani Rushaid went on trial on Monday on charges of “souring ties with a foreign country” after he criticized the United Arab Emirates for designating his organization as a terrorist g…
