CLINTON POSTPONES MOROCCO TRIP DUE TO ILL HEALTH
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pushed back until Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) a planned trip to Morocco because of illness, a spokesman said.

“Because she has a stomach virus, our departure for Morocco has been moved from Monday to Tuesday. She will not have any schedule tomorrow in Washington,” said Philippe Reines, a Clinton aide. Clinton is to travel to Morocco, Tunisia and Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, before taking part in a meeting of the “Friends of the Syrian People” group. The group is meeting to determine how to support Syria’s opposition in its struggle against the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

MANDELA “COMFORTABLE” AFTER NIGHT IN HOSPITAL
JOHANNESBURG: Nelson Mandela is comfortable, after a restful night in hospital for tests, the South African government said as the leader spent his second day in hospital. President Jacob Zuma visited the country’s first black president and said he had found him “comfortable, and in good care.” It was the second time the 94-year-old and increasingly frail Mandela had been hospitalized this year. While officials are trying to allay fears over his health, they are not releasing any details of his condition.

EMBATTLED EU STEPS UP FOR NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
OSLO: The European Union (EU) steps up on Monday to collect this year’s prestigious Nobel Peace Prize, with the bloc battered and divided by a three-year economic crisis threatening the continent’s social stability. The Nobel medal, diploma and almost million-euro prize will be handed to the organization’s top officials at a lavish ceremony in icy, snowy Oslo. The much-criticized 2012 reward is for turning Europe “from a continent of war to a continent of peace,” the Nobel committee said. Based on the will of old enemies France and Germany to reconcile after three bloody wars, the EU has grown from six states to 28 next July, when Croatia becomes the latest of Balkans nations embroiled in conflict only 20 years ago to join the bloc. AFP