Reuters World News Highlights 1800 GMT Dec 04
TOP STORIES
-----------
BEIRUT - NATO told Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday that any use of chemical weapons in his fight against encroaching rebel forces would be met by an immediate international response.
- - - -
DUBAI - Iran said on Tuesday it had captured a U.S. intelligence drone in its airspace over the Gulf in the last few days, but the U.S. military quickly denied having lost any unmanned aircraft in the Middle East.
- - - -
WASHINGTON - With a few weeks remaining before the onset of "fiscal cliff," a bipartisan delegation of governors is set to meet Tuesday with President Barack Obama and congressional leaders in search of some answers about the impact of deficit reduction measures on their state budgets, which rely heavily on federal aid.
- - - -
CAIRO - Egyptian police fired teargas at protesters demonstrating against President Mohamed Mursi's drive to hold a snap referendum on a new constitution and some broke through police lines around his palace, live television footage showed.
- - - -
HANOI/NEW DELHI - Vietnam condemned on Tuesday China's claims to disputed South China Sea islands as a serious violation of its sovereignty after saying it was setting up patrols to protect its fisheries and accusing Chinese boats of sabotage.
- - - -
HANOVER, Germany - Angela Merkel launched her re-election campaign on Tuesday at the height of her popularity, with a speech to a congress of her conservative Christian Democrats that showed off the party unity she will need to prevail in next year's vote.
- - - -
DOHA - Extreme weather is the new normal and poses a threat to the human race, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday, as he sought to revive deadlocked global climate change talks.
- - - -
ZURICH - Secret information on counter-terrorism shared by foreign governments may have been compromised by a massive data theft by a senior IT technician for the NDB, Switzerland's intelligence service, European national security sources said.
- - - -
JERUSALEM - For Benjamin Netanyahu, plans to expand Israeli settlements may risk a diplomatic crisis with Europe but could prove a good bet at the ballot box.
- - - -
VIENNA/DUBLIN - An Austrian student group plans to go to court in a bid to make Facebook Inc , the world's biggest social network, do more to protect the privacy of its hundreds of millions of members.
- - - -
LONDON - London Mayor Boris Johnson heaped pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday by calling for a referendum on a deeply pared back British membership of the European Union.
- - - -
LONDON - At least Britain's Prince William and his wife Catherine have fewer things to worry about now they have announced they are expecting their first child.