Suns scorch Bulls to end road drought

(Reuters) - Luis Scola and the fast-paced Phoenix Suns heaved a collective sigh of relief after snapping a 12-game road losing streak with a rousing 97-81 win over the Chicago Bulls on Saturday. Argentine forward Scola scored 22 points and bench player Michael Beasley weighed in with 20 as the Suns stunned the Bulls at the United Center to improve to 13-26 for the season. Phoenix outshot Chicago...

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Ravens shock Broncos; 49ers rout Packers

The 49ers and Ravens are getting another shot at making the Super Bowl.Losers in tight conference championship games a year ago, they are returning to the final step before the big game in the Big Easy after wins Saturday.Baltimore took the long, frigid route, rallying at Denver for a 38-35 victory in an AFC divisional playoff. The Ravens will go to either New England, where they lost 23-20 in the...

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49ers rout Packers to book spot in NFC title game

ir NFL NFC Divisional play-off football game …more RELATED CONTENT     View PhotoGreen Bay Packers Randall Cobb …View PhotoSan Francisco 49ers Anthony Dixon …(Reuters) - Quarterback Colin Kaepernick set an NFL rushing record as he outplayed reigning NFL Most Valuable Player Aaron Rodgers to lead the San Francisco 49ers to a 45-31 playoff win over the visiting Green Bay Packers...

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Could gang-rape protests mark beginning of an age of activism for India?

The large-scale protests triggered by the gang rape of a 23-year-old student in New Delhi has renewed debate over the rise of a new urban middle-class activism in India.The strength and longevity of those protests, sustained as they were over several weeks and undeterred by police water cannons and teargas, took many by surprise. Student activism has generally been on the decline since the early...

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Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani teen shot by Taliban, is released from UK hospital

• A daily summary of global reports on security issues.Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teen who was shot in the head by the Taliban in the fall for promoting girls’ education, was released from a British hospital yesterday.Malala, who will spend the next few weeks with her family in the UK before returning to the hospital for more surgery, quickly became an international symbol of resistance to the...

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What does Google want with North Korea?

Google chairman Eric Schmidt plans to visit North Korea as early as next week in what analysts see as part of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s drive to give an appearance of closing the vast digital divide between his isolated country and the rest of the world.Although Mr. Schmidt is not expected to reach any real deal with the North, his presence there seems to show a desire in North Korea to improve...

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UN envoy tries to revive Syria peace plan

• A daily summary of global reports on security issues.Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations special envoy to Syria, said today that he is in Damascus and Moscow this week to try to revive a peace plan for Syria that was shelved this summer. However, rebel gains on the ground make it unlikely that the plan will go anywhere without more concessions to the Syrian opposition.Russia is standing by its red...

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Syrian conflict threatens to fracture Iraq

In September, as the Iraqi government reached one of its lowest points in relations with Turkey in years, Ankara welcomed Iraqi Kurdistan's President Massoud Barzani as a guest of honor at a convention hosted by the ruling Justice and Development Party.The semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq and the federal government in Baghdad have not seen eye to eye for years,...

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In 2013, possibilities for stability from Somalia to South China Sea

The international news of any year is a disparate affair, a global chronicle of courage, calamity, and close calls. The interconnectedness of events is not always clear.But looking ahead to 2013, whether in Syria, South America, or the South China Sea, policymakers have a common New Year's wish: for unity to usher in and consolidate political and economic stability.EUROPE TURNS TOWARD INTEGRATIONAfter...

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Benazir Bhutto's son takes up the family trade in Pakistan

Five years after the assassination of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, her son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari made his first major speech today aimed at galvanizing supporters of the Bhutto family-led Pakistan Peoples Party.The speech, delivered in the family’s hometown of Garhi Khuda Bux in Pakistan’s Sindh Province, was attended by thousands of party supporters gathered to mark the anniversary...

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India gang rape spurs national dialogue

The Indian government’s crackdown on the anti-rape protests that have continued for nearly two weeks in New Delhi has only aggravated public anger and concern about women’s safety.The protests were sparked by the gang rape and brutal assault of a 23-year-old student on a bus in the elite South Delhi district on Dec. 16.As the girl battles for her life in a Singapore hospital, Indians are debating...

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Taliban not demanding Afghan power monopoly

 Taliban representatives at a conference did not insist on total power in Afghanistan and pledged to grant rights to women that the militant Islamist group itself brutally suppressed in the past, according to a Taliban statement received Sunday. The pledges emerged from a rare meeting last week involving Taliban and Kabul government representatives. The less strident substance and tone came...

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Police say Afghan policewoman kills US adviser

An Afghan policewoman killed an American adviser at the Kabul police headquarters on Monday, a senior Afghan police official said. Kabul's Deputy Police Chief Mohammad Daoud Amin said it has not been determined whether the killing was intentional or accidental and that an investigation is under way. He declined to elaborate on the circumstances of the killing or give more details. It was also not...

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Police shut down roads to stop India rape protests

 Authorities shut down roads in the heart of India's capital on Monday to put an end to a week of demonstrations against the brutal gang-rape of a woman on a moving bus. Thousands of armed police and paramilitary troops blocked roads in central New Delhi to prevent protesters from marching to the presidential palace. A small group of demonstrators gathered at a venue about a kilometer (less...

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Afghan policewoman kills US adviser, police say

 An Afghan policewoman shot and killed an American adviser outside the police headquarters in Kabul on Monday, the latest in a rising tide of insider attacks by Afghans against their foreign allies, senior Afghan officials said. The woman, identified as Afghan police Sgt. Nargas, had entered a strategic compound in the heart of the capital and shot the adviser with a pistol as he came out of...

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Afghan policewoman kills US adviser in Kabul

An Afghan policewoman shot and killed an American adviser outside the police headquarters in Kabul on Monday, the latest in a rising tide of insider attacks by Afghans against their foreign allies, senior Afghan officials said. The woman, identified as Afghan police Sgt. Nargas, had entered a strategic compound in the heart of the capital and shot the adviser with a pistol as he came out of a small...

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