KADUNA, Nigeria | Sun Dec 23, 2012 6:15pm EST

KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian Islamist group Ansaru said on Sunday it was behind the kidnap of a French national last week, citing France's ban on full-face veils and its support for military action in Mali.

Ansaru sent a message to Nigerian reporters saying it was holding 63-year-old Francis Colump, who was taken on December 19 when around 30 gunmen attacked his residence in the remote northern town of Rimi, close to the Niger border.

The Nigerian police declined to comment on the claim but had already named Colump as the man abducted. He was working for French renewable energy firm Vergnet, which had been building Nigeria's first wind farm.

"The reason we kidnapped him is ... the law the government created which prohibits the wearing of niqab by French Muslim women. This is a denial of their religious rights," said the statement by the group, written in the local Hausa language.

"And again the participation of France in supporting the military attack on Muslims in northern Mali," the message signed by the group's purported leader Abu Usamata Ansari said.

In recent months France has led support for an African-led force to help defeat al Qaeda and other Islamist militants in northern Mali. Military deployment has the backing of the U.N. Security Council.

Last year, France banned full face veils.

Ansaru's full name is Jama'atu Ansarul Musilimina Fi Biladis Sudan, which roughly translates as "Vanguards for the Protection of Muslims in Black Africa".

The group, thought to be a breakaway from better known Islamist sect Boko Haram, has risen to greater prominence in recent weeks.

It claimed responsibility for a dawn raid on a major police station in the Nigerian capital last month, where it said hundreds of prisoners were released.

Britain last month put Ansaru on its official "terrorist group" list, saying it was aligned with al Qaeda and was behind the kidnap of a British and a Italian killed earlier this year during a failed rescue attempt.

Ansaru is thought to have loose ties to Boko Haram, which has killed hundreds this year in an insurgency focused mostly on Nigerian security forces, religious targets and politicians, rather than foreigners.

Western governments are increasingly concerned about Islamists in Nigeria linking up with groups outside the region, including al Qaeda's north African wing.

Colump's kidnap takes to nine the number of French citizens currently held hostage in Africa: seven others are in the arid Sahel belt and one in Somalia.

France's Intelligence agency said last week it believed "terrorist" links were behind the latest abduction.

"We are informing the government of France that we would continue to attack ... its citizens anywhere in the world as long as the government does not retract on its policies," Ansaru's statement said. ($1 = 0.7590 euros)

(Additional reporting and writing by Joe Brock; editing by Jason Webb)

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1 of 2. A policeman uses a baton to disperse a demonstrator during a protest in front of India Gate in New Delhi December 23, 2012.

NEW DELHI | Mon Dec 24, 2012 2:24am EST

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian authorities throttled movement in the heart of the capital on Monday, shutting roads and railway stations in a bid to restore law and order after police fought pitched battles with protesters enraged by the gang rape of a young woman.

In an unusual televised address, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appealed for calm after the weekend clashes in New Delhi and vowed to punish the rapists for their "monstrous" crime.

Singh's government, often accused by critics of being out of touch with the aspirations of many Indians, has been caught off-guard by the depth of the popular outrage as protests have snowballed and spread to other cities. India is seen as one of the most unsafe places in the world to be a woman.

Instead of channeling the outrage, the government has found itself on the defensive over the use of force against the mostly student protesters in New Delhi and complaints that it has done little to create a safer environment for women.

The protests have been the biggest in the capital since 2011 demonstrations against corruption that rocked the government.

"As in much else, this government is clueless as to what India aspires to and demands," Mint newspaper said in an editorial.

Police barricaded roads leading to India Gate, an imposing Arc de Triomphe-style war memorial in the center of the city, that has become a hub of the protests by mostly college students. Many metro rail stations in fog-shrouded Delhi were also closed, crippling movement around the city of 16 million.

The 23-year-old victim of the December 16 attack, who was beaten, raped for almost an hour and thrown out of a moving bus in New Delhi, was still in a critical condition on respiratory support, doctors said.

In the weekend spasm of violent protests, police use batons, teargas and water cannon against demonstrators around the capital. Protests have also taken place in other Indian cities but they have been more peaceful.

"I appeal to all concerned citizens to maintain peace and calm. I assure you we will make all possible efforts to ensure security and safety of women in this country," Singh said in his televised address to the nation.

Singh has been under fire for remaining largely silent since the rape. He issued a statement for the first time on Sunday, a week after the crime. Sonia Gandhi, chief of the ruling Congress Party, has met some of the protesters to hear their demands.

Comments by political commentators, sociologists and protesters suggest the rape has tapped into a deep well of frustration that many Indians have over what they see as weak governance and poor leadership on social and economic issues.

"There is a huge amount of anger. People are deeply upset that despite so many incidents there has not been much response from the state and the government," said social activist Ranjana Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research in Delhi.

SOCIAL MEDIA SITES DRIVE PROTESTS

New Delhi has the highest number of sex crimes among India's major cities, with a rape reported on average every 18 hours, according to police figures. A global poll by Thomson Reuters Foundation in June found that India was the worst place in the world to be a woman because of high rates of infanticide, child marriage and slavery.

Since last week's rape, the authorities have promised better police patrolling to ensure safety for women returning from work and entertainment districts, the installation of global positioning system devices on public transport vehicles, more buses at night, and fast-track courts for swift verdicts on cases of rape and sexual assaults.

But protesters view those measures as inadequate and are looking for the government to take a firmer stand on sexual assaults, most of which go unreported.

Opposition political parties, normally quick to exploit the government's vulnerabilities, have largely been sidelined in the protests, which have mostly been organized through social media networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

The protesters come from all walks of life but many are young and middle class with growing aspirations after a decade of rapid economic growth.

Noting the youth of the protesters, Mint newspaper said "the protests against the brutal assault is only a metaphor of their general dissatisfaction.

"The new India promises much but delivers little. There are no jobs to absorb the 12 million joining the workforce every year."

The protesters' focus has been on the rape case rather than on other grievances. They are demanding more steps from the authorities to ensure safety for women - particularly better policing - and some want the death penalty for those convicted.

(Additional reporting By Arup Roychoudhury and Satarupa Bhattacharjya, writing by Ross Colvin,; Editing by John Chalmers and Robert Birsel)

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KABUL | Mon Dec 24, 2012 2:03am EST

KABUL (Reuters) - An Afghan policewoman shot dead on Monday a U.S. forces member in the compound of the chief of police in the capital, Kabul, police and Afghanistan's NATO-led force said.

"A U.S. police adviser was killed in an attack by an Afghan policewoman," a spokesman for the NATO force said.

Mohammad Zahir, head of the police criminal investigation department, described the incident as an "insider attack" in which Afghan forces turn their weapons on Western troops they are supposed to be working with.

It appeared to be the first time that a woman member of Afghanistan's security forces shot a member of the Western coalition in an insider attack.

The incidents have undermined trust between coalition and Afghan forces who are under mounting pressure to contain the Taliban insurgency before most NATO combat troops withdraw by the end of 2014.

At least 52 members of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force have been killed this year by Afghans wearing police or army uniforms.

(Reporting by Mirwais Harooni; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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Policemen stand guard near a banner outside the constitutional court put up by supporters of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi as they stage a sit-in, in Cairo December 23, 2012. Mursi will have little time to savour victory in pushing through a new constitution as it may have cost the Islamist leader broader support for urgent austerity measures needed to fix the creaking economy. The banner reads, ''We support you against corruption!''

CAIRO | Mon Dec 24, 2012 2:12am EST

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi will have little time to savor victory in pushing through a new constitution as it may have cost the Islamist leader broader support for urgent austerity measures needed to fix the creaking economy.

By fast-tracking the constitution through to a referendum that the opposition said was divisive, he may have squandered any chance of building a consensus on tax rises and spending cuts that are essential to rein in a crushing budget deficit.

Unofficial tallies from Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood showed the charter was approved by a 64 percent majority. But opponents said he lost the vote in much of the capital, while across the nation he alienated liberals, Christians and others worried by the text that was drafted by an Islamist-dominated assembly.

Opponents say such divisions will fuel more unrest in a nation whose economy has been pummeled by turbulence since Hosni Mubarak was overthrown almost two years ago, scaring off investors and tourists that are both vital sources of capital.

Without broad support, Mursi's government will find it harder to implement reforms needed to secure a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. The Muslim Brotherhood's party, which propelled Mursi to office, may also face a tougher fight in a parliamentary election expected in about two months.

"For austerity measures to be made at a time when the political system is being opened and millions of people are being enfranchised, you need political consensus within the political class," said Amr Adly, an expert on the economy.

Yet, even though there is broad acceptance of the urgency of fixing the battered economy, Adly said Mursi's approach in pushing through a constitution that angered opponents would encourage his rivals to capitalize on any public backlash against austerity rather than help sell reforms to the nation.

"His political rivals are already dealing with these problems on a very opportunistic basis," said Adly, head of the social and economic justice unit at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. "There won't be any prospect of ending ... violence in the streets or very deep political divisions."

UNITED

Egypt's fractured opposition, defeated at the ballot box by Islamists in each poll since Mubarak was overthrown in February 2011, unified their ranks after Mursi expanded his powers in a decree on November 22 to push through the constitution.

"What Mursi did has united us," said Ahmed Said, head of the liberal Free Egyptians Party and a leading member of the National Salvation Front coalition, adding he expected a unified approach to the upcoming parliamentary election.

That would give the opposition a much better chance in parliamentary polls against disciplined Islamists, who have built a broad grass-roots network across the nation over decades that liberals and other non-Islamists cannot yet match.

Though Said agreed steps were needed to fix Egypt's economy, he said Mursi had made no effort to discuss it with his rivals although they were a national concern. The IMF has long said a broad political consensus to reforms was needed for a loan.

"Who wouldn't agree with economic reforms?" Said asked, but added: "We have not been consulted at all with regard to supporting such policies or not, we are not sure what is going on in the country."

Mursi now faces the prospect of having an opposition seeking to score political points from any tax rises and measures to reduce spending, particularly steps to rein in fuel subsidies in a nation where rich and poor have become used to cheap energy.

That could make it more of a challenge for Islamists to win votes in the parliamentary election.

Though the opposition have drawn tens of thousands of Egyptians to the streets on occasion, Islamists have done so with greater regularity and also have a strong record of getting out the vote in the more local politics of a parliamentary poll.

But nation's political divisions have already taken their toll on the president's initial economic reforms.

Shortly before the referendum, Mursi introduced increases on the sales tax on goods and services that ranged from alcoholic beverages, cigarettes and mobile phone calls to automobile licenses and quarrying permits. He withdrew them within hours under criticism from his opponents and the media.

An immediate result of Mursi's policy U-turn was a delay in approving the IMF loan. The IMF said it would postpone its meeting in mid-December to approve the loan. Egypt's government said it might now be approved in January.

Farid Ismail, a senior official in the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, said Egypt could not be described as divided when two-thirds of those who voted backed the constitution but said all sides needed to discuss the economic issues ahead.

"We have an economic and social challenge and this is the time for people to present initiatives and engage in a national dialogue," he said, adding that passing the constitution meant one major hurdle to stabilizing the nation had been overcome.

EXPECTATIONS

Yet expectations run high in a nation where demands for social justice and a better standard of living helped drive the 2011 uprising as much as calls for political freedoms.

"We had a revolution to make life easier and prices lower, not higher," said 19-year-old student Sally Ahmed Kotb referring to Mursi's tax plans as she went to the polls on Saturday to vote "no". "This will lead to a hunger revolution."

Once a darling of emerging market investors, Egypt's economy has taken a hammering. The budget deficit surged to a crippling 11 percent of gross domestic product in the financial year that ended in June 2012 and is forecast to exceed 10 percent this year.

Without swift action, it could hit 13 percent, said Adly.

Among belt-tightening measures in the pipeline are steps to reduce how much subsidized gasoline drivers can buy, which is bound to be unpopular.

In the meantime, Egypt has been bleeding foreign reserves at a rate of about $600 million a month, cutting them to about $15 billion, less than half their level before Mubarak's fall.

Some Egyptians are still ready to give Mursi a chance. Many of those who voted "yes" in the referendum backed the charter as a vote for "stability", even if they had some reservations. But, even from supporters, Mursi may have limited leeway.

"Just as people rose against Mubarak, they can rise against Mursi," said Mohamed Mohsen, a civil servant and Islamist backer who voted "yes" in the referendum. "Let's give him two, three, four or five months to solve our problems then we can see."

The government says it is already engaged in a "national dialogue" with political forces, unions and others to win public support for an economic plan it insists will not hurt the poor.

"Passage of the new constitution is unlikely to ease recent discord, but it nevertheless marks a significant step forward in Egypt's labored political transition," Simon Williams, HSBC economist in Dubai, wrote in a note after the constitution was approved in the first of the two-stage referendum.

He said progress on the IMF program could now resume swiftly, but added: "The temptation to avoid pressing ahead with unpopular policy measures may also prove ever harder to resist, particularly ahead of the parliamentary polls."

(Additional reporting by Shaimaa Fayed and Tamim Elyan; writing by Edmund Blair; editing by Giles Elgood)

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TOKYO | Sun Dec 23, 2012 11:54pm EST

TOKYO (Reuters) - Incoming Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe might ask upper house lawmaker Yoriko Kawaguchi to return for another stint as foreign minister, Kyodo reported on Monday.

Japan's next foreign minister will serve against a backdrop of rising tensions with China, over a territorial dispute involving uninhabited isles in the East China Sea. Abe has called for a tougher stance toward China.

Abe is now deciding on the lineup for his Cabinet, which is likely to be formally inaugurated on Wednesday, Kyodo said.

Kawaguchi, a career diplomat, served as foreign minister from 2002-2004 under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, and she also served as environment minister in 2001 under Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.

Some members of Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, which swept to victory in Japan's December 16 election, favor giving the foreign minister post to former financial services minister Toshimitsu Motegi or to former LDP secretary general Nobuteru Ishihara, the Kyodo report said.

Motegi is also being considered as a candidate for economy, trade and industry minister or internal affairs and communications minister.

Abe is likely to tap former defense minister Yuriko Koike as LDP policy chief, a separate Kyodo report said.

(Reporting by Lisa Twaronite; Editing by Michael Perry)

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Russian President Vladimir Putin looks on during a joint news conference with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso (unseen) following a European Union-Russia summit in Brussels December 21, 2012.

MOSCOW | Sun Dec 23, 2012 7:05pm EST

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Arms sales will be on the agenda when Russian President Vladimir Putin visits India on Monday to court a country that has traditionally been a top client.

Putin's trip, his first to India since he started a new Kremlin six-year term in May, is a chance to reaffirm Russia's interest in India, long a regional ally and now a partner in the BRICS group of emerging market nations.

In an article for publication in the Indian newspaper The Hindu on Monday, Putin stressed that "deepening friendship and cooperation with India is among the top priorities of our foreign policy".

"India and Russia show an example of responsible leadership and collective actions in the international arena," he wrote, a veiled swipe at the West and in particular the United States, whom Putin accuses of seeking to impose its will on the world.

Russian defense industry sources said the visit could produce deals on the sale of fighter jets and aircraft engines worth more than $7.5 billion. One said that could include the sale of 42 Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighters and a deal on the long-term supply of 970 warplane engines.

The Kremlin said it expected the signing of "a number of large contracts in the area of military-technical cooperation", a term referring to weapons sales, licensing and servicing.

However, warm ties dating back to the Soviet era have been complicated by recent Russian efforts to improve relations with Pakistan, one of Moscow's proxy enemies during the Soviet Union's war of occupation in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Relations between the world's second biggest arms exporter Russia and India, its largest buyer last year, have also run into sporadic problems including delays in the delivery of a reconditioned Soviet-built aircraft carrier, now expected late in 2013.

MILITARY MIGHT

India plans to spend about $100 billion over the next 10 years to upgrade its largely Soviet-era military equipment, as Asia's third largest economy looks to match its economic might with military power and warily eyes assertive Asian rival China.

Moscow has warm political ties with China, another ally in opposing U.S. clout and a key consumer of the oil and gas that drives Russia's economy, but is thought to also be wary of a faster-growing neighbor with nearly 10 times its population.

India relies on Russia for 60 percent of its arms purchases, but has diversified its suppliers in recent years.

Putin announced record arms sales this year but wants to minimize the effect of the loss of deals with Libya and of uncertainty about the future of longtime client Syria on Russia's defense industry, an important source of political support for him.

Putin, whose country took up the presidency of the G20 this month, also hopes for strong growth in overall trade with India.

In his article, he said the volume of bilateral trade with India was expected to reach a record $10 billion this year, after declining due to the global financial crisis, and set a target of doubling that to $20 billion by 2015.

For Putin, who will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, President Pranab Mukherjee and senior lawmakers, India is the most distant destination since rumors of a back problem emerged after he was seen limping in September.

He had originally been expected to travel to India last month but the Kremlin has dismissed suggestions he has serious health problems, and Putin implied last week that such talk was politically motivated.

(Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

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