Yahoo! News: World News

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• Karzai asks NATO to leave Afghan villages; Taliban scrap talks
• Syrian forces press offensive in Idlib, 45 killed
• Argentina will sue over Falklands oil exploration
• Clashes flare in Bahrain on Arab Spring anniversary
• Analysis: France's Hollande could be secret reformer
• Payments system SWIFT to expel Iranian banks Saturday
• Hague prosecutor seeks 30 years for Congo warlord
• Elusive Jamaican drug lord to finally face U.S. prison
• Exclusive: Nigeria starts mediated talks with Boko Haram
• Exclusive: Iran food stockpiling grows as grain ships near port
• Pro-regime rally marks anniversary of uprising
• Iran cut off from global financial system
• US holds out hope for Afghan reconciliation talks
• Sobbing families identify Swiss bus crash victims
• France: No arms for Syrian opposition
• Taliban talks off; Karzai tells NATO to pull back
• Argentina takes aim at Falklands oil companies
• Coke's sentencing in US the talk of Jamaica
• Cuba dissidents vow to stay in church
• 2nd African YouTube video stars Clooney in Sudan

Karzai asks NATO to leave Afghan villages; Taliban scrap talks Posted: KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai called for NATO troops to leave Afghan villages and confine themselves to major bases after the slaughter of 16 civilians by a U.S. soldier, underscoring fury over the massacre and clouding U.S. exit plans. In a near-simultaneous announcement, the Afghan Taliban said it was suspending nascent peace talks with the United States seen as a strong chance to end the country's decade-long conflict, blaming "shaky, erratic and vague" U.S. statements. Karzai, in a statement after meeting U.S. ...

Syrian forces press offensive in Idlib, 45 killed Posted: BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian forces pressed their military offensive in the northern province of Idlib, driving 1,000 refugees across the Turkish border as the bloody revolt against President Bashar al-Assad entered a second year with no sign of political solution. Forty-five civilians were killed in the frontier province, including 23 whose bodies were found with their hands tied behind their backs, as well as five army deserters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported. ...

Argentina will sue over Falklands oil exploration Posted: BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina will take legal action against any companies involved in oil exploration off the disputed Falkland Islands as part of a drive to pressure Britain into sovereignty talks, the foreign minister said on Thursday. Three decades after it repelled an Argentine invasion of the Falklands, Britain has vowed to defend the archipelago, saying it will negotiate sovereignty or oil rights only in the unlikely event that the 3,000 islanders want that. ...

Clashes flare in Bahrain on Arab Spring anniversary Posted: DUBAI (Reuters) - Shi'ite Muslims clashed with riot police in villages across Bahrain on Thursday, the anniversary of a government crackdown last year on a pro-democracy uprising in the Gulf Arab state. Witnesses said youths and police faced off in Shi'ite areas including Sitra, Diraz, Malkiya, Saar, Jidhafs, Tubli and Bilad al-Qadeem, all districts outside or on the edge of the capital Manama. Police, who are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, fired tear gas, rubber bullets and sound grenades while youths threw petrol bombs - a pattern that has repeated itself almost daily for months. ...

Analysis: France's Hollande could be secret reformer Posted: PARIS (Reuters) - Despite his criticism of bankers and plan for a millionaires' tax, French Socialist Francois Hollande could turn out to be a reforming president, his aides are keen to suggest. On the campaign trail, Hollande espouses a traditional tax-and-spend platform to rally left-wing supporters and preserve his lead in most opinion polls ahead of an April-May presidential election. ...

Payments system SWIFT to expel Iranian banks Saturday Posted: BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The world's biggest electronic payment system on Saturday will cut off Iranian banks blacklisted by the European Union in an attempt to further strangle Tehran's ability to finance a nuclear program. Belgium-based SWIFT, which facilitates the bulk of global cross-border payments, said it would disconnect designated Iranian financial firms from its messaging system on Saturday at 1600 GMT after European regulators ordered the company to do so. "The EU decision forces SWIFT to take action," SWIFT Chief Executive Lazaro Campos said in a statement on Thursday. ...

Hague prosecutor seeks 30 years for Congo warlord Posted: THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Prosecutors at The Hague war crimes court said on Thursday after securing their first ever conviction that Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo must get close to the maximum 30 years in jail for sending children into battle. They also plan to demand that President Joseph Kabila hand over a serving army general, Bosco Ntaganda, who was promoted after being indicted with Lubanga by the International Criminal Court and who now faces new charges of mass rape and murder. ...

Elusive Jamaican drug lord to finally face U.S. prison Posted: (Reuters) - When Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, a second-generation Jamaican drug lord, appears for sentencing in federal court in Manhattan on Friday it will mark a hard-won victory for U.S. law enforcement. Coke was such a powerful figure in Jamaica that when U.S. authorities sought his extradition in 2009, the country's prime minister fought the request for nearly a year before agreeing under immense political pressure to hand him over. Still unable to produce Coke for U.S. ...

Exclusive: Nigeria starts mediated talks with Boko Haram Posted: ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's government has in the last week held its first indirect peace talks with Islamist sect Boko Haram, meeting mediators to discuss a possible ceasefire, political and diplomatic sources told Reuters on Thursday. Two people close to Boko Haram have been carrying messages back and forth between the sect's self-proclaimed leader Abubakar Shekau and government officials, the sources, who asked not to be named, said. It was not clear whether any mediators met with President Goodluck Jonathan himself. A presidency spokesman said he could not immediately comment. ...

Exclusive: Iran food stockpiling grows as grain ships near port Posted: LONDON/HAMBURG (Reuters) - Vessels carrying at least 360,000 metric tonnes (396,832 tons) of grain are lined up to unload in Iran, Reuters shipping data showed on Thursday, a sign that Tehran is succeeding in stockpiling food to blunt the impact of tougher Western sanctions. Iran has been shopping for wheat at a frantic pace, ordering a large part of its expected yearly requirement in a little over one month and paying a premium in non-dollar currencies to work around toughened Western sanctions and avoid social unrest. ...

Pro-regime rally marks anniversary of uprising Posted: Thousands of Syrians rallied Thursday in Damascus in a display of loyalty to President Bashar Assad, waving flags under a slate gray sky to protest the anniversary of a rebellion that the government says is driven by terrorists, gangsters and extremists.

Iran cut off from global financial system Posted: Dozens of Iranian banks were blocked from doing business with much of the world as the West tightens the financial screws on a country it wants to prevent from developing nuclear weapons.

US holds out hope for Afghan reconciliation talks Posted: The Obama administration sought to put the best face on an Afghanistan policy called into question Thursday by the apparent shelving of talks with insurgents and announcement from the U.S.-backed government in Kabul that it will not support the fielding of U.S. forces deep into rural villages, a key goal of the current military strategy.

Sobbing families identify Swiss bus crash victims Posted: Relatives of the 28 people killed when a bus from Belgium crashed inside a Swiss tunnel endured a heartbreaking task Thursday: identifying the bodies of their loved ones ahead of their repatriation. Most of the dead were children.

France: No arms for Syrian opposition Posted: France's foreign minister has rejected weapons requests by the Syrian rebel forces, saying Thursday that arming the Syrian opposition could lead to catastrophic civil war.

Taliban talks off; Karzai tells NATO to pull back Posted: The American campaign in Afghanistan suffered a double blow Thursday: The Taliban broke off talks with the U.S., and President Hamid Karzai said NATO should pull out of rural areas and speed up the transfer of security responsibilities to Afghan forces nationwide in the wake of the killing of 16 civilians.

Argentina takes aim at Falklands oil companies Posted: Argentina is intensifying its campaign to block oil development in the Falkland Islands, announcing on Thursday it will pursue "administrative, civil and criminal" penalties against the dozens of companies involved.

Coke's sentencing in US the talk of Jamaica Posted: When drug baron Christopher "Dudus" Coke ruled her slum neighborhood, Gloria Petgrave and her neighbors felt so protected by the area's criminal benefactor that they never locked their doors.

Cuba dissidents vow to stay in church Posted: A group of 13 Cuban dissidents who have occupied a Havana church for two days are no longer demanding an audience with Pope Benedict XVI when he visits this month, but vowed Thursday to continue their protest.

2nd African YouTube video stars Clooney in Sudan Posted: In the second YouTube video in a week to highlight an African conflict, George Clooney makes an illegal and dangerous trip to the southern reaches of Sudan, where the actor witnesses what an American activist said Thursday was likely a Chinese-made missile sail overhead.

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