Venezuelan president arrives in Moscow for talks

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived in Moscow on Thursday for talks with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.

He is currently dining with Medvedev in the Russian president's residence in Gorki just outside Moscow.

The two leaders, along with delegations from each of their countries, will take part in high-level talks in the Kremlin on Friday to discuss pressing bilateral issues.

Chavez's visit is part of his international tour, which also includes Belarus, Ukraine and Iran.

He last visited Russia in September 2009, when he announced that Venezuela had followed Moscow in recognizing the former Georgian republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

RIA Novosti

Trial for Guantanamo detainee delayed as plea-deal talks continue

Washington (CNN) -- A military judge has delayed the resumption of the trial of Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr as lawyers discuss a possible plea agreement that would end the first military commission conducted during the Obama administration.

The Canadian-born Khadr's trial was scheduled to resume Monday, but the judge postponed it for a week, a military spokeswoman announced Thursday without giving a reason.

"There are ongoing negotiations, and we hope there will be a deal," Nate Whitling, one of Khadr's Canadian lawyers, told CNN. Whitling would not discuss any of the terms being discussed or say when talks began on a possible plea deal.

Khadr, now 24, was 15 when he allegedly threw a grenade during a 2002 firefight in Afghanistan that resulted in the death of Army Sgt. First Class Christopher Speer. If convicted, Khadr faces a maximum life sentence.

The military commission began in August but was stopped in the first week due to the illness of Khadr's military lawyer.

Whitling would not discuss whether Khadr had rejected a previous plea deal, but suggested he is receptive to an agreement now.

CNN

Peruvian President Alan Garcia denies slapping critic

Peruvian President Alan Garcia has denied slapping a young man who insulted him when he visited a hospital last weekend.

The alleged victim says he was struck by the president and then beaten up by his bodyguards after he called Mr Garcia corrupt.

Mr Garcia initially denied the incident had taken place.

He then said he had responded indignantly when insulted, but had not hit the man.

The incident has caused considerable controversy in Peru, where insulting the head of state is an offence.

President Garcia was visiting Edgardo Rebagliati hospital in Lima with his daughter last Saturday when the confrontation took place.

Richard Galvez, 27, a volunteer worker at the hospital, says he shouted "corrupt" at Mr Garcia when he saw him pass by.

Mr Galvez alleges the president turned on him and struck him in the face.

He further alleges he was then beaten by some of Mr Garcia's security guards, while other hospital workers and patients shouted in protest.

The incident was widely reported in Peruvian newspapers, quoting witnesses.

BBC News

Facebook and Skype deal to dial friends and family

Skype is integrating with Facebook to make it easier to call and video chat with friends and family on the social network.

The deal comes amid fevered rumours that Facebook plans to launch a phone of its own.

Meanwhile Skype is gearing up for a $100m (£62m) share issue.

"The essence of the Skype experience is communicating with the people you care about," said Rick Osterloh, Skype's head of consumer products.

The new Skype for Windows will include a Facebook tab. This means that for the first time Skype users can keep up-to-date and interact with their Facebook news feed including posting status updates, commenting and liking directly from Skype.

Added to that, the Facebook phonebook in Skype allows users to call and text Facebook friends directly on their mobile phones and landlines.

And if your Facebook friend is also a Skype contact, then users can make free Skype-to-Skype calls.

Group video calling is available in beta form as a free trial.

"We're working with companies such as Skype to make it easier to find your friends anytime you want to connect," said Ethan Beard, director of Facebook's developer network.

BBC News

CEO doesn't 'feel' responsible in Hungary spill, but will aid efforts

(CNN) -- The CEO of the Hungarian company behind a huge toxic spill on Thursday said he doesn't know whether he's responsible for the disaster, but added, "I have moral duties and I will fulfill them".

Zoltan Bakonyi, the chief executive of the MAL aluminum plant, spoke with CNN's Diana Magnay a day after he was released from jail pending trial. Bakonyi was detained on Monday, accused of public endangerment and harming the environment.

"It's said I should be responsible although I don't feel it," Bakonyi told Magnay. He insisted that MAL was in compliance with all Hungarian safety regulations and pointed out that he has only been CEO for two years. Bakonyi argued that the problems presented by the reservoir and the accumulation of toxin in it stretched back 25 years or more.

But he added that it is his "moral duty" is to "help" and put his energies "120-percent into the aid effort".

CNN

Pakistan flood damage estimated at $9.7 billion

(CNN) -- The floods that ravaged Pakistan this summer caused an estimated $9.7 billion in damage to homes, roads, farms and other parts of the southwestern Asian country, the World Bank and Asian Development Bank announced Thursday.

The determination, made after a survey examining damage in 15 key sectors across the country, is more than twice the cost of 2005's 7.6-magnitude earthquake that killed an estimated 86,000 people in northern Pakistan, the World Bank said. Agriculture and livestock were particularly hard hit, while the flooding also destroyed a large number of houses and damaged roads and irrigation facilities.

"Our job as friends of Pakistan is to help the country respond to this enormous reconstruction challenge," said Rachid Benmessaoud, the World Bank country director for Pakistan.

The flooding began in early August, and floodwaters continued to rage in the countryside more than seven weeks later. More than 1,700 people died due to the flooding, according to Pakistani authorities, while more than 20 million were displaced. Many of those suffered from various medical maladies, including at least 700,000 cases of acute diarrhea, 800,000 acute respiratory infections, nearly a million cases of skin disease and almost 183,000 suspected malaria cases, the United Nations reported.

Speaking at a meeting Thursday in Brussels, Belgium, with European Union and NATO officials, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Pakistan must implement economic reforms to ensure victims of the catastrophic flooding receive support and that wealthy Pakistanis should be doing their part.

CNN

Commonwealth Games come to a close on high note for India

(CNN) -- India's hosting of the 2010 Commonwealth Games ended on a high note on Thursday as badminton player Saina Nehwal won a dramatic final gold of the 11-day competition to put her country second in the overall medal table.

India had earlier suffered a humiliating defeat in one of its most popular sports when Australia registered a resounding 8-0 victory in the men's hockey final for a leading 74th gold medal and 177 in total.

But Nehwal came back from the brink of defeat to secure India's 38th victory, edging England into third place, as she won the women's singles event.

She became the first Indian to claim a Commonwealth gold in the sport, surviving a match-point in the second set before going on to beat Malaysian second seed 19-21 23-21 21-13 Wong Mew Choo.

CNN

Russia to join F1 calendar from 2014

(CNN) -- Russia will host a Formula One race for the first time in 2014, its Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced on Thursday.

A seven-year deal has been agreed to host the race at the Black Sea resort of Sochi, running through to the 2020 season. The city will also host the 2014 Winter Olympics.

"We have reached an agreement with the principal owner of Formula One that Sochi would host the Russian Grand Prix from 2014 to 2020," former President Putin told Russian business leaders, as quoted by state news agency RIA Novosti.

Formula One surpremo Bernie Ecclestone also confirmed Russia's imminent introduction to the elite motorsport category's calendar.

"I am very happy that Formula One will take place in Russia," he told the UK Press Association.

CNN

Queen Elizabeth cancels palace Christmas Party

London, England (CNN) -- Britain's Queen Elizabeth II has canceled this year's palace Christmas party because of the current economic climate, a spokesman said Thursday.

More than 600 people usually attend the Christmas party, which used to be an annual event until two years ago, when the queen announced it would be biennial.

The party was paid for by the queen's private fund, said the spokesman, who by custom refused to be named.

"The queen is acutely aware of the difficult economic circumstances facing the country and, given the current economic climate, it was thought that it was appropriate for the royal household to show restraint," the spokesman said.

The spokesman did not say how much the party usually costs, but The Sun newspaper said the party, scheduled for December 13, was going to cost £50,000 ($80,100).

"The Royals mix freely with servants -- it's normal to see the queen dancing with a footman or Prince Philip waltzing with a maid," the paper cited an unnamed palace worker as saying. "The champagne flows like water and you feel your hard work has been appreciated. This won't go down well".

CNN

Liverpool back to court as owners block sale

London, England (CNN) -- The battle for control of Liverpool Football Club returned to the High Court in London on Thursday after a Texas court granted a temporary restraining order blocking the sale of the English Premier League side.

Liverpool's American co-owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, oppose the proposed £300-million ($477-million) sale of the club to New England Sporting Ventures (NESV), the owners of baseball's Boston Red Sox, calling the deal an "epic swindle".

Hicks and Gillett, who bought England's most successful football team in 2007, are also seeking $1.6 billion in damages.

Liverpool's board, headed by chairman Martin Broughton, whom Hicks and Gillett hired to find a buyer, says the sale is necessary to prevent the club going into administration.

Liverpool board members and NESV had intended to wrap up the sale Wednesday night but the Texas court order prevented the transaction being completed.

CNN

Gates: NATO cybersecurity policies are 'inadequate'

(CNN) -- NATO faces serious new cybersecurity threats, according to the U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and the alliance should invest in new programs to "remedy these weaknesses".

NATO's vulnerabilities in cyberspace are well-known, Gates told foreign and defense ministers gathered in Brussels, Belgium, Monday. He added that the plans in place to respond to these new emerging threats are "inadequate".

A review of NATO's cybersecurity policies should be "a matter of priority," Gates said, adding that the treaty organization needs "to identify what more must be done to protect our vital information systems. And then we need to agree to fund the capabilities that are necessary to protect these systems".

The defense secretary's comments came during a review of a draft of the new Strategic Concept for NATO, written by Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Gates applauded the review for highlighting the cybersecurity threat the alliance faces, but said "the language could be sharpened further".

Gates also discussed a second emerging threat highlighted in the review, that posed by ballistic missiles. And he praised Rasumussen's report for doing a "good job of capturing the complexity and uncertainty of today's security environment".

CNN

Police: Plot to kill Pakistan PM uncovered

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Several people have been seized in a plot to kill Pakistan's prime minister, and the suspects claim they were getting orders from a militant in the country's volatile tribal region, police said.

Police official Babar Bakhat Qureshi told CNN that officers arrested several suspects who were plotting to attack the compound of Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.

Shabir Anwar, Gilani's press secretary, had no comment on the alleged plot because it is a security matter.

The plot to strike the compound, located in the Punjab provincial city of Multan, was in its "final planning stages," Qureshi said. The location is about 395 kilometers, or 245 miles, southeast of the nation's capital, Islamabad.

The suspects were planning to use a car bomb for the attack, and that they had acquired large amounts of fertilizer to manufacture an improvised explosive device, since confiscated by police, he said.

A vehicle for the attack had not been acquired yet.

The police confiscated one kilogram of gold and and two and a half kilograms of silver, which the men were going to sell to fund the plot, the official said.

Qureshi said the suspects have confessed that they were getting their orders and instructions from Kari Imram, a leader of a Taliban offshoot group from Miran Shah in North Waziristan. Drone strikes said to be conducted by the United States have targeted militants in North Waziristan, one of seven of the county's tribal districts.

CNN

Seven foreign troops killed in Afghanistan

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Seven NATO troops were killed in Afghanistan Thursday, bringing the number of foreign troop deaths in the past two days to 13, the International Security Assistance Force said.

An improvised explosive device attack killed three service members in the west, and two died in an insurgent attack in the south. One died after an insurgent attack in the east, and another was killed in an IED attack in the south.

On Wednesday, six foreign troops were killed.

ISAF has not announced the nationalities of any of the dead, in line with policy leaving identification up to the victims' home countries.

Forty coalition service members have died this October in Afghanistan so far in the deadliest year of the nine-year-old war for foreign troops.

The number of troops killed so far this year is 586, the highest yearly toll in the conflict.

The highest monthly coalition death toll occurred in June, with 103 foreign troop deaths, a figure that includes Americans and service members other nations.

In July, 65 Americans died, the highest monthly death toll for U.S. service members.

The deaths come at a time when the war has become a subject of fierce debate in the United States and other countries that have contributed troops to the war effort.

Gen. David Petraeus, who took command this summer as the top military official in Afghanistan, led the 2007-2008 campaign to stabilize Iraq after years of insurgent and sectarian warfare following the U.S. invasion of 2003.

CNN

Suspect in attempted Christmas bombing to represent himself in hearing

Detroit, Michigan (CNN) -- A court hearing Thursday for Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab will be the first one since the suspect, accused of a Christmas attempted terror attack, decided to fire his lawyers and represent himself.

The morning pretrial hearing in Michigan comes after a federal judge delayed court proceedings for about a month to give AbdulMutallab time to prepare his legal defense.

In September, AbdulMutallab decided that he no longer wanted to be represented by federal defenders and would act as his own attorney.

Judge Nancy Edmunds granted his request and appointed standby counsel for him.

AbdulMutallab, the British-educated son of a Nigerian bank executive, is accused of trying to set off a bomb hidden in his underwear aboard a plane from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit, Michigan, on December 25.

At the hearing in September, he spoke softly but clearly about what he wanted.

CNN

British prime minister to meet with U.S. Afghan commander

London, England (CNN) -- British Prime Minister David Cameron is scheduled to meet Thursday with America's top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus.

The meeting comes less than a week after a British aid worker was killed during an operation to rescue her from kidnappers in Afghanistan.

Linda Norgrove may have been killed by a grenade thrown by American forces trying to free her, Cameron said Monday.

"It's a long-standing meeting and has been in the diary for a number of weeks," the Downing Street press office said this week, adding that the discussion will center on the strategy in Afghanistan. Petraeus also will meet with British Defense Secretary Liam Fox to talk about Afghanistan, it said.

NATO and British officials had said earlier she was killed by her captors, who detonated an explosive.

CNN

French strike rolls into 3rd day

Paris, France (CNN) -- French workers -- upset that the government might make them wait until age 62 to retire -- extended their strike into a third day Thursday, and while transportation appeared to be improving, the situation at oil refineries was not.

The Paris Metro was running smoothly and there were no strikes at airports Thursday, but some railway workers on regional, national and high-speed trains were still off the job.

Work ceased at seven of France's 12 refineries as workers there continued the strike, the French Union of Petroleum Industries said.

There were fears that the work stoppage would disrupt French fuel supplies, but Total -- which owns six of the seven affected refineries -- said the situation was still normal Thursday. More than 98 percent of its gas stations were operating without difficulties, Total said.

Tankers had problems being loaded in the city of Nantes, Total said, affecting the operation of two gas stations there.

Also Thursday, 342 high schools across the country -- or nearly 8 percent -- were "disrupted" because students joined the protests and blockaded some schools, the Education Ministry said.

The Union Nationale Lyceenne, the French high school student union, said 500 high schools were "mobilized" Thursday.

The open-ended strike is over government pension reforms, which have passed the lower house of Parliament and are now awaiting approval by the Senate.

CNN