Yahoo! News: World News

U.N. says over 92 killed in Syria, 32 of them children
French back Hollande's first days in power: poll
Greek pro-bailout conservatives regain lead: polls
Jordan hikes gasoline, power prices to ease budget deficit
Mali Tuaregs, Islamist rebels agree to merge, create new state
Two separate attacks wound five in north east Kenya
Islamist and ex-PM vie for mantle of Egypt's revolt
Finnish rooftop gunman seems not to be extremist
Islamists walk out of Algeria parliament in protest
Putin puts Medvedev in charge of Russia's ruling party
Dozens of children killed in new Syria attack
Vatican in chaos after butler arrested for leaks
Rebel groups merge in Mali, agree on Islamic state
Egypt's top candidates try to broaden support
Pakistan: US missile attack kills 4 in northwest
Iran: Enriched uranium traces a 'technical issue'
Havana sees US invasion at key art festival
Hunger returns to Africa, stalking 1M children
Iraqi president calls for dialogue to solve crisis
Gunman kills 2, wounds 7 in Finland, then arrested

U.N. says over 92 killed in Syria, 32 of them children

Posted: 26 May 2012 03:52 PM PDT

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Saturday that more than 92 people were killed in what activists described as an artillery barrage by government forces in the worst violence since the start of a U.N. peace plan to slow the flow of blood in Syria's uprising. The bloodied bodies of children, some with their skulls split open, were shown in footage posted to YouTube purporting to show the victims of the shelling in the central town of Houla on Friday. The sound of wailing filled the room. ...

French back Hollande's first days in power: poll

Posted: 26 May 2012 01:29 PM PDT

PARIS (Reuters) - Close to two thirds of French people approve of President Francois Hollande's actions in his first days in power, a poll showed on Saturday, giving him a strong foundation to face a parliamentary election and the challenges of the euro crisis. Hollande took on the top job on May 15 at a time of stagnating economic growth and high unemployment in France and heightened anxiety over Greece's ability to remain in the euro zone. ...

Greek pro-bailout conservatives regain lead: polls

Posted: 26 May 2012 12:27 PM PDT

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's conservatives have regained an opinion poll lead that would allow the formation of a pro-bailout government committed to keeping the country in the euro zone, a batch of new surveys showed on Saturday. Greece was forced to call repeat elections for June 17 after a May 6 vote left parliament divided evenly between groups of parties that support and oppose the austerity conditions attached to a 130 billion euro bailout agreed with the European Union and International Monetary Fund in March. ...

Jordan hikes gasoline, power prices to ease budget deficit

Posted: 26 May 2012 04:09 PM PDT

AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan has raised the price of gasoline and electricity for major mining firms, hotels and banks, to ease its worsening budget deficit that could reach $4 billion this year, officials said on Saturday. The move, announced by the cabinet, which takes effect after midnight is the first major rise in retail gasoline prices since street protests early last year inspired by the wave of Arab unrest pushed the authorities to expand social spending and freeze fuel price hikes, including gasoline. The prices of premium petrol would increase to 1 dinar ($1.4) from 0. ...

Mali Tuaregs, Islamist rebels agree to merge, create new state

Posted: 26 May 2012 03:51 PM PDT

BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's Tuareg rebel National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and Ansar Dine Islamist militants have agreed to merge and create an independent Islamic state in the north of the country, a rebel spokesman said on Saturday. The deal between MNLA, which has said it wants an independent secular state in the north, and the al Qaeda-linked Salafist Ansar Dine, which had wanted to impose Sharia across Mali, may complicate international efforts to stabilize Mali after a March coup that plunged the country into chaos. ...

Two separate attacks wound five in north east Kenya

Posted: 26 May 2012 01:06 PM PDT

ISIOLO, Kenya (Reuters) - Suspected grenade attacks at a hotel and a refugee camp in northeastern Kenya wounded at least five people on Saturday, police said, days after a similar strike in the same region. Grenade and improvised explosive device (IED) attacks in Kenya have become more frequent since it sent troops to Somalia to pursue al Shabaab insurgents it blames for a wave of kidnappings last year. Police said four builders at a primary school in the Ifo refugee camp in Garissa, and one person at a hotel in Wajir were wounded in the attacks. ...

Islamist and ex-PM vie for mantle of Egypt's revolt

Posted: 26 May 2012 12:26 PM PDT

CAIRO (Reuters) - The Muslim Brotherhood and a military man close to ousted leader Hosni Mubarak courted defeated first-round candidates in Egypt's presidential election on Saturday, each trying to claim the mantle of the uprising before a run-off next month. State television said the Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi led this week's vote with 26.4 percent, against 23 percent for ex-air force chief Ahmed Shafiq, according to preliminary results. Hamdeen Sabahy, a secular leftist came a close third with 21.5 percent, followed by independent Islamist Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh. ...

Finnish rooftop gunman seems not to be extremist

Posted: 26 May 2012 12:24 PM PDT

HELSINKI (Reuters) - A gunman opened fire from a rooftop in a Finnish town centre in the early hours of Saturday, killing two people and wounding several others, police said. An 18-year-old man wearing camouflage clothing was arrested after the shooting in Hyvinkaa, a small town 56 km (34 miles) north of the capital Helsinki. The motive for the shooting was unclear, but police said it seemed the suspect is not extremist and does not support a specific ideology. ...

Islamists walk out of Algeria parliament in protest

Posted: 26 May 2012 11:36 AM PDT

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Islamist lawmakers walked out of the inaugural session of Algeria's parliament on Saturday to protest against an election they say was rigged to hand a majority to the ruling elite's party. Algeria, supplier of about a fifth of Europe's imported gas, is the only country in north Africa left largely untouched by last year's "Arab Spring" revolts, but some analysts predict unrest if the establishment does not loosen its grip on power. ...

Putin puts Medvedev in charge of Russia's ruling party

Posted: 26 May 2012 11:27 AM PDT

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin steered Dmitry Medvedev into the chairmanship of Russia's ruling party on Saturday and demanded reforms to the flagging organization he will rely on to keep his grip on the country's far-flung regions. At Putin's behest, delegates at a United Russia congress elected Medvedev chairman with a unanimous show of hands, the final step in a choreographed role reversal the longtime leader hopes will preserve his rule against growing opposition. After four years of playing No. ...

Dozens of children killed in new Syria attack

Posted: 26 May 2012 04:26 PM PDT

Gruesome video Saturday showed rows of dead Syrian children lying in a mosque in bloody shorts and T-shirts with gaping head wounds, haunting images of what activists called one of the deadliest regime attacks yet in Syria's 14-month-old uprising.

Vatican in chaos after butler arrested for leaks

Posted: 26 May 2012 04:56 PM PDT

An already sordid scandal over leaked Vatican documents took a Hollywood-like turn Saturday with confirmation that the pope's own butler had been arrested after documents he had no business having were found in his Vatican City apartment.

Rebel groups merge in Mali, agree on Islamic state

Posted: 26 May 2012 02:55 PM PDT

The two rebel groups that seized control of the northern half of Mali announced Saturday that they have agreed to fuse their movements and work together to create an independent Islamic state on the territory they occupy, a signatory to the agreement said.

Egypt's top candidates try to broaden support

Posted: 26 May 2012 02:25 PM PDT

The two surviving candidates in Egypt's presidential election appealed Saturday for support from voters who rejected them as polarizing extremists in the first round even as they faced a new challenge from the third runner-up who contested the preliminary results.

Pakistan: US missile attack kills 4 in northwest

Posted: 26 May 2012 12:24 PM PDT

An American drone fired two missiles at a bakery in northwest Pakistan Saturday, killing four suspected militants, officials said, as the U.S. pushed ahead with its drone campaign despite Pakistani demands to stop. This was the third such strike in the country in less than a week.

Iran: Enriched uranium traces a 'technical issue'

Posted: 26 May 2012 01:17 PM PDT

A top Iranian nuclear official said that traces of enriched uranium discovered at an underground bunker came from a "routine technical issue," the country's official IRNA news agency reported Saturday.

Havana sees US invasion at key art festival

Posted: 26 May 2012 11:55 AM PDT

Ruben Alpizar never met the American collector who fell in love with his painting of a plummeting Icarus against a starry background, hanging on the wall of a Spanish colonial-era fortress across the bay from Havana. Nor did he get a name or a hometown, or even learn whether the buyer was a man or a woman.

Hunger returns to Africa, stalking 1M children

Posted: 26 May 2012 08:03 AM PDT

It's 10 a.m., and the 2-year-old is still waiting for breakfast. Aliou Seyni Diallo collapses to his knees in tears and plops his forehead down on the dirt outside his family's hut.

Iraqi president calls for dialogue to solve crisis

Posted: 26 May 2012 09:48 AM PDT

Iraq's president on Saturday urged the nation's bickering factions to resolve the bitter political dispute that has gripped the government for nearly six months, warning that the crisis threatens to split the country.