Palestinians have erupted in wild cheers, hugging each other and honking car horns after the United Nations voted to grant them, at least formally, what they have long yearned for -- a state of their own. UN recognizes state of Palestine
The United Nations voted overwhelmingly Thursday to recognize a Palestinian state, a long-sought victory for the Palestinians but an embarrassing diplomatic defeat for the United States. Mountie accused of sexual harassment tries to derail disciplinary hearing
OTTAWA – A veteran Mountie accused of sexual harassment, drinking in the office and operating a police car under the influence of alcohol has lost his court bid to derail a pending disciplinary hearing against him.
Review says Canadian controls hamper aerospace sales
(Reuters) – Canada’s aerospace industry is not selling as much as it could in countries such as Russia and China because of overly zealous government enforcement of controls designed to guard against leaks of sensitive technology, an industry review released on Thursday says. Companies in other North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries, which have more “balanced” controls, are picking up the slack, the report said. …
Israel: U.S. co-production of rocket shield not option "right now"
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Israel has agreed to give the United States the know-how needed to produce interceptors used by its vaunted Iron Dome rocket shield, but it is not interested in any proposed co-production yet, an Israeli official told Reuters on Thursday. Using radar-guided interceptor missiles, the Iron Dome system shot down 421 of some 1,500 rockets launched from the Gaza Strip between November 14 and an Egyptian-brokered truce on November 21, according to the Israeli military. …
Sri Lanka parliament speaker rebuffs Supreme Court summons
COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s parliament speaker on Thursday rejected a supreme court summons to a parliamentary panel looking into a move to impeach the chief justice, deepening a crisis that has raised concern about the independence of the country’s judiciary. The stand-off in the south Asian state has raised the risk of a destabilizing clash between the judiciary and President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government. …
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States warned Georgia on Thursday not to follow the path of Ukraine into an era of politic al witch-hunts as the country's new government prosecutes a raft of former officials following last month's parliamentary election. "We do hope that everything that is done with respect to prosecuting any potential wrongdoers is done transparently in accord with due process and the rule of law," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in remarks with visiting Georgian Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze. … 
ROME (Reuters) – Italy's center left picks its leader for next year's election on Sunday in a primary where supporters will choose between a sharp young moder nizer and a veteran political operator as candidates to take over from Prime Minister Mario Monti. The run-off contest pits Florence Mayor Matteo Renzi, 37, who presents himself as a dynamic candidate for change, against Pier Luigi Bersani, 61, the dour, experienced leader of the Democratic Party (PD) which dominates on the Italian left. Bersani is strong favorite, having won 44. … 
DETROIT (Reuters) – For the first time in nearly two decades, GM's Chevrolet brand will be back in the business of selling rear-wheel-drive sedans in the United States. General Motors Co expects the production version of the Chevrolet SS rear-wheel-drive sedan to act as a low-volume car meant to build excitement around the brand, the head of the automaker's North American operations said on Thursday. The car gives GM its first rear-wheel-drive sedan since it stopped selling the Pontiac G8 in 2009. … 
Internet service went down Thursday across Syria and international flights were canceled at the Damascus airport when a road near the facility was closed by heavy fighting in the country's civil war. 
When he came to power six years ago, President Felipe Calderon set goals to alleviate poverty, create jobs and increase public safety. 
An elite British sniper jailed for illegally possessing a gun and ammunition won an appeal Thursday to suspend his sentence, after pleading that he forgot about having the gun as a result of a brain injury. 
(Reuters) – Boeing Co said on Thursday it proposed engaging a federal mediator in contract ta lks with the union that represents its engineers, citing significant differences on pay and benefits. "We hope the expertise of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service can help move the two sides toward a resolution," Boeing said in a statement. Contracts with the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) union, which represents professional engineers and technical workers at the plane maker, expired in October. (Reporting by Karen Jacobs) 
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. officials were surprised that BP Plc suggested an agreement would soon be ready to lift a suspension imposed this week on the company's obtaining new federal contracts, a government source said on Thursday. "It caught us off guard," the source said. "It's not the case that there is an administrative agreement that is ready to go out the door right now," the source said, adding that any administrative agreement will only be part of a several-step process that could take months. The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday suspended BP from obtaining new U.S. … 
When he came to power six years ago, President Felipe Calderon set goals to alleviate poverty, create jobs and increase public safety. 
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon appealed on Thursday for countries to consider resettling several thousand Iranian dissidents living in Iraq who were recently moved to a former U.S. military base in Baghdad from a camp where they lived for decades. In a report to the Security Council, Ban said 3,112 members of the People's Mujahideen Organization of Iran have been transferred to Camp Hurriya, leaving about 100 still at Camp Ashraf – also know as Camp New Iraq – to help close it down. … 
The black-and-white photos show masses of people yearning for independence, celebrating a vote recognizing a state in Palestine. It was a day that generations of pupils would be taught to remember with reverence: Nov. 29. 
Islamists on Thursday rushed to approve a draft constitution for Egypt without the participation of liberal and Christian members, aiming to pre-empt a court ruling that could dissolve their panel and further inflaming the clash between the opposition and President Mohammed Morsi. 
Ice loss in Antarctica and Greenland has contributed nearly half an inch to the rise in sea levels in the past 20 years, according to an assessment of polar ice sheet melting that researchers are calling the most reliable yet.