Canada leading indicator edges up 0.1 percent in November

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The composite leading indicator for Canada rose 0.1 percent in November, slowing down from October on a housing market downturn and weak manufacturing as the economy hits a soft patch.
The index rose 0.2 percent in October and was up every month in 2012 except July, said a report on Monday by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. The think tank developed the modified indicator last year to replace the one discontinued by the country's official statistics agency.
"The marginal gains in the leading indicator augur slow economic growth into early 2013, although the manufacturing sector turned down as uncertainty grew about the global economy," the institute said in a release.
The housing index fell 3.3 percent in November, the fifth consecutive decline as housing starts and existing home sales weakened.
In manufacturing, new orders fell 0.7 percent and the average workweek shrank by 0.3 percent.
Employment insurance claims rose for the first time in eight months in spite of strong employment data in the fourth quarter.
The stock market and commodity prices were the main areas of strength offsetting the weakness elsewhere.

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France says US is providing communications and transport help to Mali military intervention

BAMAKO, Mali - France claimed new successes in its campaign to oust Islamist extremists from northern Mali on Sunday, bombarding the major city of Gao with airstrikes targeting the airport and training camps used by the al-Qaida-linked rebel group controlling the city.
France's foreign minister also said the 3-day-old intervention is gaining international support, with communications and transport help from the United States and backing from Britain, Denmark and other European countries.
The French-led effort to take back Mali's north from the extremists occupying it has included airstrikes by jets and combat helicopters on at least four northern towns, of which Gao is the largest. Some 400 French troops have been deployed to the country in the all-out effort to win back the territory from the well-armed rebels, who seized control of an area larger than France itself following a coup in Mali nine months ago.
"French fighter jets have identified and destroyed this Sunday, Jan. 13, numerous targets in northern Mali near Gao, in particular training camps, infrastructure and logistical depots which served as bases for terrorist groups," the French Defence Ministry said in a statement.
Residents of Gao confirmed that the targets included the city's airport, as well as the building that served as the base for the town's feared Islamist police, which — in their adherence to a strict version of Muslim law — have carried out numerous punishments including amputating limbs of accused thieves.
Gao resident Abderahmane Dicko, a public school teacher, said he and his neighbours heard the jets screaming across the sky between noon and 1 p.m. local time.
"We saw the war planes circling. They were targeting the camps uses by the Islamists. They only hit their bases. They didn't shoot at the population," he said.
But the intervention has come with a human cost in the city of Konna, the first to be bombed on Friday and Saturday. The town's mayor said that at least 10 civilians were killed, including three children who threw themselves into a river and drowned trying to avoid the falling bombs.
French President Francois Hollande authorized the military operation, code-named "Serval" after a sub-Saharan wildcat, after it became clear that the advancing rebels could push past the defences in the town of Mopti, the first town on the government-controlled side, which has the largest concentration of Malian soldiers.
The decision catapulted the world and Mali's neighbours into a military operation that diplomats had earlier said would not take place until at least September. France's defence minister said they had no choice because of the swift rebel advance.
On Saturday, the body representing nations in West Africa announced that the member states would send hundreds of troops of their own, including at least 500 each from Niger, Burkina Faso and Senegal, as well as from Nigeria.
They will work alongside French special forces, including a contingent that arrived Saturday in Bamako to secure the Malian capital against retaliatory attacks by the al-Qaida-linked groups occupying Mali's northern half.
TV footage showed the French troops walking single-file out of the Bamako airport, weapons strapped to their bodies or held over their shoulders, like skis.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the military effort succeeded in blocking the advance that had prompted the intervention. "The Islamist offensive has been stopped," Fabius said on RTL radio Sunday. "Blocking the terrorists ... we've done it."
He sought to stress that the operation is gaining international backing, despite concern about the risks of the mission in a stretch of lawless desert in weakly governed country. "We have the support of the Americans for communications and transport," Fabius said, but gave no details.
U.S. officials have said they had offered to send drones to Mali and were considering a broad range of options for assistance, including information-sharing and possibly allowing limited use of refuelling tankers. British Prime Minister David Cameron also agreed to send aircraft to help transport troops.

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UN Security Council to meet Monday at France's request to discuss situation in Mali

A spokesman for the French U.N. Mission says the Security Council will meet Monday at France's request to discuss Mali.
Spokesman Brieuc Pont said in a tweet posted Sunday that the council will meet Monday afternoon "to examine the situation in Mali." French troops have intervened to oust al-Qaida-linked Islamist extremists who control northern Mali.
The 3-day-old, French-led effort to take back Mali's north from the extremists has included airstrikes by jets and combat helicopters on at least four northern towns. Some 400 French troops have been deployed to the country in the all-out effort to win back the territory from the well-armed rebels, who seized control of an area larger than France itself following a coup in Mali nine months ago.

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TEST:Pakistan: US drones kill 13, including commander

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A pair of U.S. drone strikes in northwest Pakistan near the Afghan border killed 13 people Thursday, including a senior militant commander who had a truce with the Pakistani military, intelligence officials and residents said.
Five Pakistani security officials said the commander, Maulvi Nazir, was reportedly among nine people killed in a missile strike on a house in the village of Angoor Adda in the South Waziristan tribal region early Thursday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
Nazir's killing could prove to be a contentious issue between Washington and Islamabad, which is believed to have struck a nonaggression pact with Nazir ahead of the Pakistani military's 2009 operation against militants in South Waziristan.
Militants under Nazir's command focused their attacks on American forces in neighboring Afghanistan, earning the militant leader the enmity of the U.S. But Pakistan's military viewed Nazir and militant chiefs like him as key to keeping the peace internally because they do not attack Pakistani targets.
Residents in both Angoor Adda and Wana, the biggest town in South Waziristan, said they heard announcements on mosque loudspeakers announcing Nazir's death. One resident, Ajaz Khan, told The Associated Press by telephone that 5,000 to 10,000 people attended the funeral of Nazir and six other people in held in Angoor Adda.
Reports of individual deaths are difficult to independently verify. It is difficult for Pakistani and foreign journalists to travel to the remote areas where many of these strikes occur, and the U.S. rarely comments on its secretive drone program.
The second drone strike took place near Mir Ali, the main town of the North Waziristan tribal region. One missile hit a vehicle near the town, followed by another missile when people rushed to the vehicle to help people in the car. The officials say four people were killed in the strike, although the identities of the dead were not immediately known.
Nazir was attacked by a suicide bomber in November as he was arriving at an office he used to meet with locals and hear their complaints. Nazir and more than a dozen other people were wounded in the attack, and seven people were killed.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion immediately fell on rival militants who have been jockeying with Nazir for power in South Waziristan.
Nazir outraged many Pakistanis in June when he announced that he would not allow any polio vaccinations in territory under his control until the U.S. stops drone attacks in the region. Pakistan is one of three countries where polio is still endemic. Nine workers helping in anti-polio vaccination campaigns were killed last month by militant gunmen.
The former chief of intelligence in northwest Pakistan, retired brigadier Asad Munir, said Nazir's killing will complicate the fight against militants in the tribal region, and could prompt Nazir's group to carry out retaliatory attacks against the Pakistani army in South Waziristan.
It will also raise questions among military commanders here who would like the U.S. to use its firepower against the Pakistani Taliban, which attacks domestic targets, and not against militants like Nazir who aren't seen as posing as much of a threat to the Pakistani state, Munir said.
He added that the risk now for Pakistan is that the remnants of Nazir's group could join ranks with the Pakistani Taliban in its war with the government and army.
The American drone program is extremely controversial in Pakistan where it is seen as an infringement of the country's sovereignty. And while the U.S. maintains that it targets militants, many Pakistanis complain that innocent civilians have also been killed.
America's use of drones has increased substantially under President Barack Obama. According to the Long War Journal, which tracks drone strikes, there were 35 strikes in Pakistan during 2008, the last year President George W. Bush was in office.
In 2009, that number went up to 53 and then shot up to 117 in 2010, the year with the most drone strikes in Pakistani territory. Last year, the U.S. carried out 46 strikes, and the Thursday strike that killed Nazir was the first of 2013.
The program has killed a number of top militant commanders over the past year, including al-Qaida's then-No. 2, Abu Yahya al-Libi, who died in a drone strike in June on the Pakistani village of Khassu Khel in North Waziristan.
In August, another missile strike in North Waziristan killed Badruddin Haqqani, who has been described as the day-to-day operations commander of the Haqqani network, which has been blamed by the U.S. for carrying out some of the most high-profile attacks against American and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

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Video fuels rumor NKorean leader's wife gave birth

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The seemingly pregnant belly sported by the wife of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in mid-December appeared to be gone by New Year's Day.
That's sent South Korean media into a frenzy of speculation that there's a new baby in the ruling Kim dynasty.
Video broadcast Dec. 17 showed Ri Sol Ju wearing a billowing black dress that covered what appeared to be a swollen belly.
Rumors swept Seoul and Pyongyang that she was pregnant, although it was difficult to tell for sure from the images. There has been no official word from Pyongyang.
But Ri was shown by state TV at a New Year's concert wearing a tighter dress and looking noticeably slimmer. That's causing more speculation in Seoul that she may have given birth.

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Pakistan says US drones kill senior Taliban figure

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Two U.S. drone strikes on northwest Pakistan killed a senior Taliban commander who fought American forces in Afghanistan but had a truce with the Pakistani military, intelligence officials said Thursday.
The commander, Maulvi Nazir, was among nine people killed in a missile strike on a house in the village of Angoor Adda in the South Waziristan tribal region near the border with Afghanistan late Wednesday night, five Pakistani security officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
At least four people were killed in a separate drone strike on Thursday morning near Mir Ali, the main town of the North Waziristan tribal region.
America's use of drones against militants in Pakistan has increased substantially under President Barack Obama and the program has killed a number of top militant commanders over the past year.
But the drone strikes are extremely contentious in Pakistan, seen as an infringement on the country's sovereignty. And while the U.S. maintains that it targets militants, many Pakistanis complain that innocent civilians have also been killed.
Nazir's killing could cause even more friction in the already tense relations between Washington and Islamabad. Pakistan is believed to have struck a nonaggression pact with Nazir ahead of its 2009 military operation against militants in South Waziristan.
Fighters under Nazir's command focused their attacks on American forces in neighboring Afghanistan, earning him the enmity of the U.S.
But many in Pakistan's military viewed Nazir and militant chiefs like him as "good Taliban," meaning they focus attacks only on foreign forces in Afghanistan, keeping domestic peace by not attacking Pakistani targets.
Nazir outraged many Pakistanis in June when he announced that he would not allow any polio vaccinations in territory under his control until the U.S. stops drone attacks in the region.
Pakistan is one of three countries where polio is still endemic. Nine workers helping in anti-polio vaccination campaigns were killed last month by militant gunmen and the killings this week of five female teachers and two aid workers may also have been linked to their work on the polio campaigns.
Residents in Angoor Adda and Wana, the biggest town in South Waziristan, said mosque loudspeakers announced Nazir's death. One resident, Ajaz Khan, said 5,000 to 10,000 people attended the funeral of Nazir and six other people in Angoor Adda.
Ahmed Yar, a resident who attended the funeral, said Nazir's body was badly burned and his face unrecognizable.
Reports of individual deaths in such cases are often difficult to independently verify. Pakistani and foreign journalists have a hard time traveling to the remote areas where many of these strikes occur, and the U.S. rarely comments on its secretive drone program.
Nazir was active in many parts of Afghanistan and had close ties with Arab members of al-Qaida as well as the Afghan Taliban, said Mansur Mahsud, the head of the Islamabad-based FATA Research Centre, which studies the tribal regions.
"His death is a great blow to the Afghan Taliban," he said.
The Taliban is a widely diverse group. The Afghan Taliban is made up mostly of Afghans who fight against U.S. and NATO troops. In Pakistan the group has been divided with some fighting the Pakistani government because of its support for the U.S. Other Taliban groups in Pakistan, such as Nazir's, focus their energies on fighting American and NATO troops in Afghanistan but have a truce with the Pakistani military.
Nazir, who was believed to be about 40 years old, had property in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. He used to be a member of Hizb-e-Islami, a militant Islamist group run by former Afghan prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. The group has thousands of fighters and followers across the north and east of Afghanistan.
Nazir had survived several assassination attempts including at least two previous American drone strikes.
In November, a suicide bomber tried to kill him as he was arriving at an office where he used to meet with local residents and hear their complaints. Nazir and more than a dozen other people were wounded in the attack, and seven were killed.
No group claimed responsibility, but suspicion immediately fell on rival militants including the head of the Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP), Hakimullah Mehsud, who had been jockeying with Nazir for power in South Waziristan. The TTP is an umbrella group of militants formed to oust the Pakistani government and install a hardline Islamist regime. They have been behind much of the violence tearing apart Pakistan in recent years.
Nazir's non-aggression pact with the Pakistani military allowed the army to launch a massive operation in South Waziristan against the TTP which displaced more than 800,000 people and drove Hakimullah Mehsud from the region.
In retaliation for the assassination attempt, Nazir expelled members of the Hakimullah's Mehsud tribe from Wana. Nazir was meeting with supporters to discuss how to deal with the TTP when the missiles struck on Wednesday night, said Mehsud from the FATA center.
Nazir's group quickly appointed his close aide Bawal Khan as a replacement, according to one of Nazir's commanders. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
But it remains to be seen what the new leader's policies will be and whether the tension with the TTP could lead to a power struggle in the region.
"Trouble will follow," said Mehsud.
The former chief of intelligence in northwest Pakistan, retired brigadier Asad Munir, said Nazir's killing will complicate the fight against militants in the tribal region, and could prompt Nazir's group to carry out retaliatory attacks against the Pakistani army in South Waziristan.
It will also raise questions among military commanders here who would like the U.S. to use its firepower against the Pakistani Taliban, which attacks domestic targets, and not against militants like Nazir who aren't seen as posing as much of a threat to the state, Munir said.
He added that the risk now for Pakistan is that the remnants of Nazir's group could join ranks with the Pakistani Taliban in its war with the government and army.
Drone strikes have been on the rise during Obama's presidency.
According to the Long War Journal, which tracks drone strikes, there were 35 strikes in Pakistan during 2008, the last year President George W. Bush was in office.
That number shot up to 117 in 2010 and then dropped the 46 last year. The strike that killed Nazir was the first of 2013.
The program has killed a number of top militant commanders over the past year, including al-Qaida's then-No. 2, Abu Yahya al-Libi, who died in a drone strike in June on the Pakistani village of Khassu Khel in North Waziristan.
In August, another missile strike in North Waziristan killed Badruddin Haqqani, who has been described as the day-to-day operations commander of the Haqqani network, which has been blamed by the U.S. for carrying out some of the most high-profile attacks against American and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

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LONDON (Reuters) - The leader of the Church of England on Tuesday said a vote last month that struck down proposals to allow women to become bishops had been "deeply painful", but that Christianity was still relevant in Britain despite falling numbers of believers. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who leads the global 80-million-strong Anglican Communion, said in his Christmas day sermon that the answer to the question of whether Christianity had "had its day" was a "resounding no". The Church of England narrowly voted against allowing women bishops last month - to the dismay of Williams and Prime Minister David Cameron - in a move its leaders said risked undermining its role as the established church in society with clerics in parliament's upper chamber. The media, many politicians and some members of the public have criticised the Church of England for failing to allow women bishops and for failing to back government plans for gay marriage at a time when it is under pressure to modernise. In separate comments aired on Tuesday but recorded earlier, the Roman Catholic Church's leader in England and Wales, Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, said the government's plans to allow gay marriage were a "shambles" and had no mandate. No religious organisation or cleric will be forced to conduct gay weddings under the plans, but critics fear that clause could be challenged under European human rights laws. A census showed earlier this month that the number of people in England and Wales describing themselves as Christian has declined by 13 percent over the last decade, but Williams warned secularists not to become "too excited". "There are a lot more questions to ask before we could possibly assume that the census figures told us that faith was losing its hold on society," Williams said. "In the deeply painful aftermath of the synod's vote last month, what was startling was how many people who certainly wouldn't have said yes to the census question turned out to have a sort of investment in the church," he said. Williams, 62, is stepping down after 10 years in his post, and will be replaced next year by former oil executive Justin Welby. Williams has agonised over schisms in the Anglican Communion and has said he hopes his successor has "the constitution of an ox and the skin of a rhinoceros"

LONDON (Reuters) - The leader of the Church of England on Tuesday said a vote last month that struck down proposals to allow women to become bishops had been "deeply painful", but that Christianity was still relevant in Britain despite falling numbers of believers.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who leads the global 80-million-strong Anglican Communion, said in his Christmas day sermon that the answer to the question of whether Christianity had "had its day" was a "resounding no".
The Church of England narrowly voted against allowing women bishops last month - to the dismay of Williams and Prime Minister David Cameron - in a move its leaders said risked undermining its role as the established church in society with clerics in parliament's upper chamber.
The media, many politicians and some members of the public have criticised the Church of England for failing to allow women bishops and for failing to back government plans for gay marriage at a time when it is under pressure to modernise.
In separate comments aired on Tuesday but recorded earlier, the Roman Catholic Church's leader in England and Wales, Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, said the government's plans to allow gay marriage were a "shambles" and had no mandate.
No religious organisation or cleric will be forced to conduct gay weddings under the plans, but critics fear that clause could be challenged under European human rights laws.
A census showed earlier this month that the number of people in England and Wales describing themselves as Christian has declined by 13 percent over the last decade, but Williams warned secularists not to become "too excited".
"There are a lot more questions to ask before we could possibly assume that the census figures told us that faith was losing its hold on society," Williams said.
"In the deeply painful aftermath of the synod's vote last month, what was startling was how many people who certainly wouldn't have said yes to the census question turned out to have a sort of investment in the church," he said.
Williams, 62, is stepping down after 10 years in his post, and will be replaced next year by former oil executive Justin Welby.
Williams has agonised over schisms in the Anglican Communion and has said he hopes his successor has "the constitution of an ox and the skin of a rhinoceros"

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Archbishop of Canterbury says Anglican church wounded, not dead

LONDON (Reuters) - The leader of the Church of England on Tuesday said a vote last month that struck down proposals to allow women to become bishops had been "deeply painful", but that Christianity was still relevant in Britain despite falling numbers of believers.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who leads the global 80-million-strong Anglican Communion, said in his Christmas day sermon that the answer to the question of whether Christianity had "had its day" was a "resounding no".
The Church of England narrowly voted against allowing women bishops last month - to the dismay of Williams and Prime Minister David Cameron - in a move its leaders said risked undermining its role as the established church in society with clerics in parliament's upper chamber.
The media, many politicians and some members of the public have criticised the Church of England for failing to allow women bishops and for failing to back government plans for gay marriage at a time when it is under pressure to modernise.
In separate comments aired on Tuesday but recorded earlier, the Roman Catholic Church's leader in England and Wales, Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, said the government's plans to allow gay marriage were a "shambles" and had no mandate.
No religious organisation or cleric will be forced to conduct gay weddings under the plans, but critics fear that clause could be challenged under European human rights laws.
A census showed earlier this month that the number of people in England and Wales describing themselves as Christian has declined by 13 percent over the last decade, but Williams warned secularists not to become "too excited".
"There are a lot more questions to ask before we could possibly assume that the census figures told us that faith was losing its hold on society," Williams said.
"In the deeply painful aftermath of the synod's vote last month, what was startling was how many people who certainly wouldn't have said yes to the census question turned out to have a sort of investment in the church," he said.
Williams, 62, is stepping down after 10 years in his post, and will be replaced next year by former oil executive Justin Welby.
Williams has agonised over schisms in the Anglican Communion and has said he hopes his successor has "the constitution of an ox and the skin of a rhinoceros"

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Russian parliament considers anti-US adoption bill

 The upper chamber of Russia's parliament has unanimously voted in favor of a measure banning Americans from adopting Russian children.
It now goes to President Vladimir Putin to sign or turn down.
The bill is one part of a larger measure by lawmakers retaliating against a recently signed U.S. law that calls for sanctions against Russians deemed to be human rights violators.
Some top government officials, including the foreign minister, have spoken against the bill, arguing that it would be in violation of Russia's constitution and international obligations.
Several people protesting the bill were detained outside the Federation Council on Wednesday morning.
Critics of the bill say it victimizes orphans by depriving them of an opportunity to escape often-dismal Russian orphanages. There are about 740,000 children without parental custody in Russia.

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UK on track to hit 2020 green energy targets - DECC

The UK is on track to meet its 2020 renewable energy targets after low-carbon electricity generation grew more than a quarter in the year to end-June 2012, thanks largely to new solar and offshore wind projects, a government report said.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said renewable energy accounted for over 10 percent of total electricity supplied in the 12 months to end-June.
Renewable power output grew 27 percent from July 2011, according to the UK's latest Renewable Energy Roadmap status report released on Thursday.
"Renewable energy is increasingly powering the UK's grid, and the economy too," Energy Secretary Edward Davey, who heads DECC, said in a statement that accompanied the report.
"It's a fantastic achievement that more than 10 percent of our power now comes from renewables, given the point from which we started," he said.
Britain has a target to produce 15 percent of its energy, including electricity, heat and transport, from renewable sources by 2020 in a bid to cut climate-warming emissions.
This means that 30 percent of the UK's electricity must come from renewables by the end of the decade, the government said, with wind playing a leading role.
"Right now, getting new infrastructure investment into the economy is crucial to driving growth and supporting jobs across the country ... I am determined that we get ahead in the global race on renewables and build on the big-money investments we've seen this year," Davey said.
DECC has identified around 12.7 billion pounds ($20.6 billion) of confirmed and planned renewable investment by companies between April 1, 2011 and July 31, 2012, potentially creating around 22,800 jobs.
The department, which expects the growth in renewables to continue or accelerate, predicts the industry will support 400,000 direct jobs by 2020, up from around 110,000 jobs currently.
Government subsidies have played a key role in encouraging investment, however, and economic difficulties have put pressure on support schemes.
Government departments have reined in spending, though officials say the falling costs of the technology mean that less support is required to encourage take-up.
Offshore wind power capacity grew by 60 percent to 2.5 gigawatts (GW), while onshore wind grew by 24 percent to 5.3 GW, according to figures in the Renewable Energy Roadmap report.
Solar photovoltaics recorded the highest growth with an increase of five and a half times to 1.4 GW in capacity by the end of June 2012, the report said.
Industry group RenewableUK welcomed the findings of the report.
"The update is spot on. It highlights the sector's dynamic growth and the healthy pipeline of wind, wave and tidal projects to come," RenewableUK Deputy Chief Executive Maf Smith said.
"It's right to note that costs are falling steadily, so renewables will continue to offer even better value for money for all of us," he said, adding that it will help stabilise the price of energy.
In November, Britain set out plans to triple support for low-carbon power generation by 2020 in order to help replace ageing fossil fuel power plants with less polluting alternatives.
The outlay will be clawed back through higher energy bills.
Under the agreed Levy Control Framework, spending on low-carbon power generation will increase to 7.6 billion pounds a year in real terms by 2020, from the current 2.35 billion pounds, to reduce dependence on gas.

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Russian parliament endorses anti-US adoption bill

 Defying a storm of domestic and international criticism, Russia moved toward finalizing a ban on Americans adopting Russian children, as Parliament's upper house voted unanimously in favor of a measure that President Vladimir Putin has indicated he will sign into law.
The bill is widely seen as the Kremlin's retaliation against an American law that calls for sanctions against Russians deemed to be human rights violators. It comes as Putin takes an increasingly confrontational attitude toward the West, brushing aside concerns about a crackdown on dissent and democratic freedoms.
Dozens of Russian children close to being adopted by American families now will almost certainly be blocked from leaving the country. The law also cuts off the main international adoption route for Russian children stuck in often dismal orphanages: Tens of thousands of Russian youngsters have been adopted in the U.S. in the past 20 years. There are about 740,000 children without parental care in Russia, according to UNICEF.
All 143 members of the Federation Council present Wednesday voted to support the bill, which has sparked criticism from both the U.S. and Russian officials, activists and artists, who say it victimizes children by depriving them of the chance to escape the squalor of orphanage life. The vote comes days after Parliament's lower house overwhelmingly approved the ban.
The U.S. State Department said Wednesday it regretted the Russian parliament's decision.
"Since 1992, American families have welcomed more than 60,000 Russian children into their homes, providing them with an opportunity to grow up in a family environment," spokesman Patrick Ventrell said in a statement from Washington. "The bill passed by Russia's parliament would prevent many children from enjoying this opportunity ...
"It is misguided to link the fate of children to unrelated political considerations," he said.
Seven people with posters protesting the bill were detained outside the Council before Wednesday's vote. "Children get frozen in the Cold War," one poster read. Some 60 people rallied in St. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city.
The bill is part of larger legislation by Putin-allied lawmakers retaliating against a recently signed U.S. law that calls for sanctions against Russians deemed to be human rights violators. Although Putin has not explicitly committed to signing the bill, he strongly defended it in a press conference last week as "a sufficient response" to the new U.S. law.
Originally Russia's lawmakers cobbled together a more or less a tit-for-tat response to the U.S. law, providing for travel sanctions and the seizure of financial assets in Russia of Americans determined to have violated the rights of Russians.
But it was expanded to include the adoption measure and call for a ban on any organizations that are engaged in political activities if they receive funding from U.S. citizens or are determined to be a threat to Russia's interests.
Russian children's rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov told the Interfax news agency that 46 children who were on the verge of being adopted by Americans would stay in Russia if the bill is approved — despite court rulings in some of these cases authorizing the adoptions.
The ombudsman supported the bill, saying that foreign adoptions discourage Russians from adopting children. "A foreigner who has paid for an adoption always gets a priority compared to potential Russian adoptive parents," Astakhov was quoted as saying. "A great country like Russia cannot sell its children."
Russian law allows foreigners to adopt only if a Russian family has not expressed interest in a child being considered for adoption.
Some top government officials, including the foreign minister, have spoken flatly against the adoption law, arguing that the measure would be in violation of Russia's constitution and international obligations.
But Senator Mikhail Margelov, chairman of the Council's foreign affairs committee, referred to the bill as "a natural and a long overdue response" to the U.S. legislation. "Children must be placed in Russian families, and this is a cornerstone issue for us," he said.
Margelov said that a bilateral Russian-U.S. agreement binds Russia to give notice of a halt to adoptions 12 months in advance. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies that the president would consider the bill within the next two weeks.
The measure has become one of the most debated topics in Russia.
By Tuesday, more than 100,000 Russians had signed an online petition urging the Kremlin to scrap the bill.
Over the weekend, dozens of Muscovites placed toys and lit candles in front of the Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament after it approved the bill on Friday, but security guards promptly removed them. Opposition groups said they will rally against the bill on Jan. 13, and several popular artists publicly voiced their concern about the legislation.
While receiving a state award from Putin on Wednesday, film actor Konstantin Khabensky wore a badge saying "Children Are Beyond Politics." Veteran rock musician Andrey Makarevich called on Putin Monday to stop "killing children."
During a marathon Putin press conference Thursday, eight of the 60 questions the president answered focused on the bill. Responding angrily, Putin claimed that Americans routinely mistreat children from Russia.
The bill is named in honor of Dima Yakovlev, a Russian toddler who was adopted by Americans and then died in 2008 after his father left him in a car in broiling heat for hours. The father was found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter. A Russian television report showed Yakovlev's blind grandmother who claimed that the U.S. family that adopted her grandson forged her signature on documents allowing them to take the boy outside Russia.
Russian lawmakers argue that by banning adoptions to the U.S. they would be protecting children and encouraging adoptions inside Russia.
In a measure of the virulent anti-U.S. sentiment that has gripped parts of Russian society, a few lawmakers went even further, claiming that some Russian children were adopted by Americans only to be used for organ transplants and become sex toys or cannon fodder for the U.S. Army.
Americans involved in adoption of Russian children find the new legislation upsetting.
Bill Blacquiere, president of New York City-based Bethany Christian Services, one of the largest adoption agencies in the U.S., said he hopes Putin won't sign the bill.
"It would be very sad for kids to grow up in orphanages," Blacquiere said. "And would hurt them socially, psychologically and mentally. We all know that caring for children in institutions is just not a very good thing."
Joyce Sterkel, who runs a Montana ranch for troubled children adopted abroad and has adopted three Russian children herself, said she is concerned for the estimated 700,000 children who live in state-run institutions in Russia.
"I would prefer that the Russians take care of their own children. I would prefer that people in the United States take care of their own children," Sterkel said Wednesday. "But if a suitable home cannot be found in that country, it seems reasonable that a child should be able to find a home outside.

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Russia says it won't host Assad but others welcome

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's foreign minister says Moscow would welcome any country's offer of a safe haven to Syrian President Bashar Assad, but underlined that Moscow itself has no intention of giving him shelter if he steps down.
Russia has repeatedly used its veto right along with China at the U.N. Security Council to protect its old ally from international sanctions, but it has increasingly sought to distance itself from Assad.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters late Friday that countries in the region he wouldn't name publicly had asked Russia to convey their offer of a safe passage to Assad. He said that Russia responded by telling them to go directly to Assad: "We replied: 'What do we have to do with it? If you have such plans, you go straight to him.'"
Asked if Moscow could offer a refuge to Assad, Lavrov responded that "Russia has publicly said that it doesn't invite President Assad."
"If there is anyone willing to provide him guarantees, they are welcome!" Lavrov told reporters on board a plane returning from Brussels where he attended a Russia-EU summit. "We would be the first to cross ourselves and say: "Thank God, the carnage is over! If it indeed ends the carnage, which is far from certain."
Lavrov also said the Syrian government has pulled its chemical weapons together to one or two locations from several arsenals across the country to keep them safe amid the rebel onslaught.
"According to the information we have, as well as the data of the U.S. and European special services, the government is doing everything to secure it," he said. "The Syrian government has concentrated the stockpiles in one or two centers, unlike the past when they were scattered across the country."
U.S. intelligence says the regime may be readying chemical weapons and could be desperate enough to use them. Both Israel and the U.S. have also expressed concerns they could fall into militant hands if the regime crumbles.
Lavrov gave no indication that Moscow could change its opposition to sanctions against Assad. He assailed the West for failing to persuade the opposition to sit down for peace talks with the government, saying that "the Syrian president's head is more important for them than saving human lives."
Lavrov added that U.N. peace envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, would visit Moscow for talks before the year's end.
He said that Moscow has also invited the revamped Syrian opposition leadership to visit.
"We are ready to honestly explain that the emphasis on a military solution and the dismantling of the state institutions is disastrous for the country," he said. "Listen, there will be no winner in this war.

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Basic facts on Egypt's constitution referendum

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptians vote Saturday in the second round of a highly contentious referendum on a new constitution to replace the one suspended after the 2011 revolution. Here are some basic facts and figures on the vote.
— Saturday's vote takes place in 17 of Egypt's 27 provinces, with some 25 million people eligible to vote. Polls open at 8:00 a.m. (0600 GMT) and close at 7:00 p.m. (1700 GMT), although authorities often extend voting for several hours.
— Preliminary results will likely be known late Saturday or early Sunday, as observers compile results announced at each polling station. Official final results are not expected for several days afterward, but such preliminary results have proven accurate in past elections.
— In the first round, held on Dec. 15, preliminary results showed a low turnout of 32 percent, with 56 percent voting "yes" for the constitution in voting that took place in 10 provinces, including the two biggest cities Cairo and Alexandria.
— Among the areas voting is Cairo's twin city of Giza, capital of the province of the same name, Egypt's third most populated with nearly 4 million registered voters. Also voting will be Nile Delta provinces in which Islamists who back the charter enjoy large constituencies, such as Beheira with 3 million registered voters. The "no" vote could be stronger in the three Suez Canal cities — Port Said, Ismailia and Suez — and the Nile Delta province of Menoufia.
— The ballot paper has two options: "agree" in light blue circle or "don't agree" in brown circle.
— Rights groups and opposition filed complaints citing violations marring the vote, including attempts to suppress "no" voters. The main international group that monitored previous Egyptian votes, the Carter Center, is not deploying observers this time around. Egyptian law requires judges at each poll station to monitor. Despite a boycott by many judges, authorities say they have 7,000 judges to cover the 6,700 polling stations.

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Egyptian Islamists, opponents clash ahead of vote

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (AP) — Violence erupted between Egypt's divided camps on Friday, the eve of the final round of a referendum on a constitution that has polarized the nation, as Islamists and their opponents pelted each other with stones while police fired tear gas in the streets of the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.
The contentious referendum, which would bring a greater implementation of Islamic law to Egypt, is expected to be approved in Saturday's voting.
The new clashes — in which opponents of Islamists set fire to cars and dozens of people were hurt — illustrated how the new charter is unlikely to ease the violent conflict over the country's future. For a month, Egypt has been torn between Islamists and their opponents, who accuse President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood of trying to unilaterally impose their will on the country.
Meanwhile, Morsi was already gearing up for the next steps after the constitution's passage, making a last-minute appointment of 90 new members to the parliament's upper house, a third of its total membership. Current rules allow him to do so, but if he waited until the charter was passed he could only appoint 10.
The body is normally so toothless and ignored that few Egyptians bothered to vote in elections for it earlier this year, allowing an almost total sweep by the Brotherhood and other Islamists. But once the charter is passed, it will hold lawmaking powers until elections for a new lower house are held — not expected for several months.
Friday's appointments added to the tiny ranks of non-Islamists in the upper house, known as the Shura Council, but preserved the Islamists' overwhelming hold.
A spokesman for the main opposition umbrella National Salvation Front dismissed the appointments, accusing Morsi of setting up a token opposition much like ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak did.
"This council and this constitution will also fail as long as there is no real opposition and no real dialogue, and as long as Morsi is only serving his clan and taking orders from the head office of the Muslim Brotherhood," Hussein Abdel-Razek told The Associated Press.
For the past month, both sides have been bringing their supporters into the street for mass rallies sometimes numbering in the tens of thousands — and repeatedly erupting into clashes.
In part, Egypt's split has been over who will shape the country's path two years after Mubarak's ouster. An opposition made up of liberals, leftists, secular Egyptians and a swath of the public angered over Morsi's 6-month-old rule fear Islamists are creating a new Mubarak-style autocracy. They accuse the Brotherhood of monopolizing the levers of power and point to the draft charter, which Islamists on the Constituent Assembly rammed through despite a boycott by liberal and secular members.
Morsi's allies say the opposition is trying to use the streets to overturn their victories at the ballot box over the past two years. They also accuse the opposition of carrying out a conspiracy by former members of Mubarak's regime to regain power.
Intertwined with that is a fight over Islam's role in the state. Many Islamists vow to defend God's law, and clerics have depicted opponents as infidels. The constitution would give broad leeway for hard-liners to implement Islamic Shariah law, making civil liberties and rights of women subordinate to a more literal version of Islamic law. It also gives clerics a say in legislation for the first time to ensure parliament adheres to Shariah.
Passage of the charter will do little to resolve the confrontation — particularly if it is approved by a low margin with little turnout. The first round of voting took place Dec. 15 in 10 of Egypt's 27 provinces, and preliminary results showed a meager 32 percent turnout, leading to a 56 percent "yes" vote.
Voting Saturday will take place in the remaining 17 provinces. Preliminary results are likely to be known late Saturday or early Sunday.
Top opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei urged the public to vote "no," saying, "We know if this constitution is passed, there will be no stability."
"This is not the road for stability or democracy," he said in a speech aired Thursday night. "When 45 percent of people say 'no,' it is a strong indication. Some don't read or write, but they are conscious that they should not be tricked."
The violence in Alexandria was a sign of how the conflict has moved beyond the issue of the constitution, to the deep resentments between the two camps.
Riot police swung batons and fired volleys of tear gas to separate stone-throwing Brotherhood members and ultraconservative Salafis on one side, and youthful secular protesters on the other.
The clashes started when the two groups met just after Friday prayers at the city's main Qaed Ibrahim mosque, by the coastal promenade. Throngs of Salafi Islamists, most wearing the long beards favored by the movement, had gathered there for what they called "a rally to defend clerics and mosques." Waving black Islamic banners, some chanted "God is Great!" and warned opponents: "With blood and soul, we redeem Islam."
It was unclear who started the fight. During the battles, secular youths set fire to two buses and two cars belonging to Islamists, sending thick black smoke through the upscale city center. Under a heavy cloud of tear gas, the two sides pulled back, but then continued fighting for hours past dusk along the corniche, near the famed Alexandria Library.
At least 42 people were treated for injuries, with some rushed to the hospital, a city health official said.
The Islamists' rally was called in response to violence last week, when a well-known Salafi cleric in Alexandria, Sheik Ahmed el-Mahalawi, was trapped inside a mosque for 12 hours while his supporters battled stone-throwing opponents outside with swords and firebombs.
El-Mahalawi, 87, had stirred anger with a sermon in which he denounced opponents of the draft charter as "followers of heretics."
In a further sign of the tensions opened up by the crisis, the Brotherhood in Alexandria accused the security forces of conspiring with "thugs" loyal to ElBaradei's Dustour Party and other liberal groups that it claimed attacked the Islamists in Alexandria.
"There was clear collusion by the security forces, which did nothing (to stop the attackers)," said Anas al-Qadi, a Brotherhood spokesman in Alexandria, according to the website of the Brotherhood's political party.
"In whose interest are the Interior Ministry and the governorate's security director working?"
Egypt's security forces have been divided by the country's turmoil, with some police in the streets showing support for anti-Morsi protesters, while others are believed to be backing the president. The crisis' worst violence came on Dec. 5, when Brotherhood supporters attacked an opposition sit-in outside the presidential palace in Cairo, and the ensuing violence left at least 10 dead and hundreds injured on both sides.

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Key events in Egypt's revolution and transition

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptians are voting Saturday in the second round of a referendum on disputed draft constitution that has polarized the country and plunged it into its worst crisis since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in last year's uprising.
The referendum and draft charter have pitted supporters of the Islamist Morsi against liberal parties, youth groups, Christians and a large group of moderate Muslims who fear the new document enshrines too big a role for Islam and undermines freedoms of expression, gender equality and rights of minorities.
The new crisis means that the political instability that followed Mubarak's February 2011 overthrow will likely continue.
Here are some key events from 23 months of turmoil and transition.
Jan. 25, 2011 — Egyptians hold nationwide demonstrations against the authoritarian rule of Mubarak, who has led the country for nearly three decades, protesting against police brutality and demanding social justice.
Jan. 26 — A large security force moves into Cairo's Tahrir Square, beating and arresting protesters, using rubber bullets and tear gas. Three protesters are killed in similar protests outside of Cairo — among the first of what will become about 900 dead from clashes during the uprising.
Jan. 28 — Protesters burn down the ruling party's headquarters and the military is deployed. Police virtually vanish from Egypt's streets, leading to a wave of looting, robbery and arson. Protesters occupy Tahrir square for a prolonged sit-in.
Feb. 11 — Mubarak steps down and turns power over to the military. Two days later the body of top generals, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, dissolves parliament and suspends the constitution, meeting two key demands of protesters.
March 19 — Egyptians cast their first vote on constitutional amendments sponsored by the ruling military which set the timeline for the country's transition to democracy, including the first parliamentary and presidential elections.
Nov. 28 — Voting begins in Egypt's first parliamentary elections since Mubarak's ouster. The election is held over a period of several weeks and concludes in January with nearly half the seats won by the previously banned Muslim Brotherhood.
April 20, 2012 — The presidential campaign officially begins. A first round of voting on May 23-24 determines that Morsi and Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister under Mubarak, will face each other in a runoff.
June 14 — The Supreme Constitutional Court rules to dissolve the Islamist-dominated lower house of parliament on grounds that a third of the chamber members were elected illegally. The military swiftly closes down parliament.
June 16-17 — Egyptians vote in the runoff between Morsi and Shafiq. The generals issue a "constitutional declaration" giving them sweeping authority to maintain their grip on power and limiting the powers of the president.
June 24 — Election officials declare Morsi the winner of Egypt's first free election, with 51.7 percent of the vote.
June 29 — Morsi, now president-elect, delivers a rousing speech in Tahrir Square, vowing to fight on behalf of the people and to restore powers the generals have taken away from him.
June 30 — Morsi takes his formal oath before the Supreme Constitutional Court. A day earlier he had read a symbolic oath in Tahrir Square, the birthplace of the revolution.
July 8 — Morsi issues a surprise decree overruling the court's dissolution of parliament and challenging the generals.
July 9 — Parliament convenes in defiance of the court ruling disbanding it. In a short session it approves a new law that effectively places the panel tasked with writing the country's new constitution above judicial review.
Aug. 12 — In a bold move, Morsi orders the retirement of the head of the ruling military council, longtime defense minister Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi and his chief of staff. He also cancels the military-declared constitutional amendments that gave the top generals wide powers and undermined his authority. The move was seen as way to curb the military's role in political affairs but it also gave Morsi the power to legislate in the absence of parliament.
Nov. 19 — Several members of liberal parties and representatives of Egypt's churches announce their withdrawal from the 100-member constituent assembly tasked with writing Egypt's constitution, protesting what they said were attempts to impose ultraconservative Islamist content.
Nov. 21- Morsi negotiates a cease-fire deal between Hamas and Israel, after an 8-day conflict that threatened to widen into an Israeli ground operation into the Gaza Strip. It was a major diplomatic triumph for Morsi, establishing his role as a regional player with sway over the militant group Hamas, and influence with Israel and the U.S.
Nov. 22 — In a surprise move, Morsi unilaterally decreed greater authorities for himself, giving the presidency, the panel writing the constitution and the upper house of parliament, both dominated by Islamists, immunity from judicial oversight. The move came just ahead of court decisions that could have dissolved the bodies.
Nov. 23 — Days of protests follow Morsi's decrees, which were perceived as a power grab. Clashes between pro- and anti-Morsi supporters also erupted, and the offices of the Muslim Brotherhood were attacked in different governorates.
Nov. 24 — Judges push back against Morsi's decrees, calling them an "unprecedented assault." Many courts begin an open-ended strike.
Nov. 26 — Morsi meets with judges to tell them he doesn't intend to infringe on their authority. He does not back down from his decree, however.
Nov. 27 — The opposition holds the largest rally to date against Islamists in Tahrir square. More than 200,000 people pack the square, chanting that Morsi should "leave." Clashes between the president's supporters and opponents break out in other governorates.
Nov. 30 — In a marathon session overnight, the Islamist-dominated panel writing the constitution rushes the draft through, seeking to preempt the court ruling that could dissolve the panel. The move renewed mass protests.
Dec. 1 — Despite the protests, Morsi sets the referendum date for the disputed charter for Dec. 15. Hundreds of Islamist protesters besiege the Supreme Constitutional Court, a day before it is set to rule on the legality of the panel that drafted the constitution.
Dec. 2 — The Islamist protest outside the Supreme Constitutional Court leads it to cancel its ruling on the legality of the constitutional panel and declare an open-ended strike, calling it the "blackest day" in the history of Egypt's judiciary.
Dec. 4 — More than 100,000 protesters march on the presidential palace, demanding the cancellation of the referendum on the constitution and the writing of a new one.
Dec. 5 — Supporters of Morsi attack a sit-in outside the presidential palace in clashes that last through the night. At least 10 die in the fighting.
Dec. 6 — Morsi refuses to call off the referendum, calling for a national dialogue in an address to the nation. The opposition rejects the call, saying it was not serious since Morsi refused to rescind any of his recent moves.
Dec. 8 — Morsi cancels the decrees that gave him immunity from judicial oversight but keeps the referendum on time. Opposition vows to continue protests.
Dec. 12 — Opposition calls on its supporters to vote no in the referendum. Pro- and anti-constitution demonstrations continue.
Dec. 15 — Around a third of the 25 million voters eligible for the first leg of the constitutional referendum cast ballots, despite the judges' boycott. Unofficial results show that 56 percent voted "yes" for the draft constitution.
Dec. 16 — Egypt's rights groups say the constitutional referendum was marred by widespread violations.
Dec. 18 — Prosecutor General Talaat Abdullah submits his resignation just a month after Morsi appointed him, following a sit-in by fellow prosecutors who accused him of pressuring a judge not to release some 130 anti-Morsi protesters from detention.
Dec. 19 — Top elections official Zaghloul el-Balshi resigns, citing medical problem.
Dec. 20 — Prosecutor General Talaat Abdaullah withdraws his resignation.
Dec. 21 — Islamists hold massive rally in the country's second largest city of Alexandria to show solidarity with religious clerics.
Dec. 22 — More than 25 million Egyptians eligible to vote will head to polling stations in 17 provinces to cast their ballots in the second round.

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Syrian rebels step up attacks on strategic sites

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria's rebels stepped up attacks on strategic sites including a sprawling military complex in the country's north on Friday, while reports emerged that President Bashar Assad's forces continued to fire Scud missiles at rebel areas.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told European leaders that Russia does not seek to protect Assad but that only a negotiated solution can end the conflict — an outcome that looks unlikely as rebels make gains across the country.
While few observers expect Syria's 21-month-old conflict to end soon, most say steady rebel advances appear to be tipping the balance in favor of those fighting to topple Assad's regime.
Anti-regime activists reported rebel attacks on strategic government sites in northern Syria on Friday, showing rebel efforts to cut government supply lines, free up roads and seize arms from government bases.
Near the northern city of Aleppo, rebels clashed with government forces at a sprawling military complex by the town of Al-Safira, activists said.
An activist in the town said the complex contains military factories, a scientific research center that produces chemical weapons as well as an air defense and an artillery base.
Rebels seized the artillery base earlier this week and have been trying to seize the air defense base, said Hussein, who gave only his first name for fear of retribution.
The town's proximity to the facilities has cost it dearly, he said. Government airstrikes often target civilian areas, and more than two-thirds of the town's residents have fled, fearing the regime will use chemical weapons.
"We are scared that they will be blown up or that the regime will use them in revenge on the town," he added.
Bilal Saab, head of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, confirmed that the Al-Safira complex houses a chemical weapons production facility but said it is unclear if such weapons have been stored there ready for use, or if rebels would even be able to use such weapons.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said seven rebels were killed in clashes in the area on Friday. It said nearly two dozen more died in a government airstrike earlier this week after they captured a military warehouse.
Activists also said rebels had launched attacks on a number of military targets near the central city of Hama.
Activist Mousab Alhamadee said rebels had seized five army posts in the last two days near the town of Morek, which straddles the country's primary north-south highway north of Hama. Only one army tank battalion remains in the town's immediate area, he said, giving the area's rebels much more freedom to move.
"The regime is losing a complete geographic area," he said.
Syria's conflict started with political protests in March 2011 and has since evolved into a full-scale civil war, with rebel brigades across the country fighting Assad's troops.
The government says the rebels are terrorists backed by foreign powers that seek to destroy the country. It does not give death tolls, although anti-regime activists say more than 40,000 have been killed.
International diplomacy has failed to slow the conflict.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that his country does not seek to preserve Assad's rule but wants a "democratic regime in Syria based on the expression of people's will" — an outcome he said can only come through negotiations.
"We aren't a defender of the current Syrian leadership," Putin told European leaders in Brussels.
Throughout the conflict, Russia has been one of Assad's greatest backers, selling him arms and, along with China, protecting Syria from censure by the U.N. Security Council.
But Russian officials have recently distanced themselves from Assad's regime, suggesting they are resigned to his potential ouster.
Also Friday, NATO's top official said that Syria has continued to target rebel areas with Scud-type missiles.
Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmusen called the attacks "acts of a desperate regime approaching collapse."
U.S. and NATO officials first reported Syria's use of Scud missiles one week ago, prompting a swift denial from the Syrian government.
NATO agreed earlier this month to deploy Patriot anti-missile systems along Syria's northern border with Turkey — a move Fogh Rasmussen said was justified by the new attacks.
One of the Scuds apparently hit the rebel town of Marea, near Aleppo.
An activist in the town who goes by the name Abu al-Hassan said Friday he was awoken the day before by the largest explosion he'd ever heard in the town, a frequent target of regime airstrikes.
"It shook the house and my kids came running in saying, 'Daddy, daddy!'" he said. "They were terrified."
Al-Hassan said the missile fell in a field, causing no casualties.
Videos purporting to show the impact site showed a crater some six meters (yards) deep in a green field. They appeared genuine and corresponded with other AP reporting on the incident.
Also Friday, a prominent news anchor from Syrian state TV said he had defected after being repeatedly interrogated by the country's intelligence services.
Speaking from an undisclosed location outside of Syria, Ahmad Fakhouri told Al-Arabiya TV that he'd fled the country eight months ago with rebel help.
"I look forward for the day when Syria will be free and I can return to my country to do my job," he said.
Syrian TV's head office in Damascus told The Associated Press that Fakhouri had left the station to work for state-run radio.
An official at the radio station said Fakhouri was on vacation.

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