News In Brief

House Demos nominate Pelosi to be Speaker
Reuters, Washington
Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday was nominated as expected by fellow Democrats to be speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, but her level of support may fall short of what she needs for a sure win in January's election for the top job in the chamber.
Pelosi, who made history as the first woman to hold the post when she was speaker from 2007 to 2011, won the Democratic nomination by a vote of 203-32, putting her in contention in the early January contest in which both Democrats and Republicans will vote.

Kremlin expects Putin-Trump meeting despite Ukraine crisis
AFP, Moscow
The Kremlin on Wednesday said it expects a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump to go ahead later this week, despite the US leader saying he may cancel it over Russia's seizure of three Ukrainian ships.
"The preparations (for the meeting) are continuing. The meeting is agreed.  We don't have any different information from our American colleagues," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during a daily briefing.

Former security chief to run in Afghan
presidential vote
Reuters, Kabul
A former ally of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani who was one of the Western-backed government's most influential security officials before resigning unexpectedly this year, has announced he plans to run in next year's presidential election.
Mohammad Hanif Atmar, the former national security adviser who was once considered the second-most powerful official in the government, will be running against his former boss in the election, due on April 20.

Taliban attack kills 6 in Kabul
AP, Kabul
Afghan officials have revised the number of casualties from a deadly Taliban attack the day before on the Kabul offices of a Britain-based security company to six people killed.
Earlier reports said the assault left 10 dead but Afghanistan's public health ministry spokesman Wahid Majroh said on Thursday that four of the dead were attackers.