2012年8月22日星期三

Yahoo! News: World News

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Yahoo! News: World News

Syrian army batters parts of Damascus, 47 killed

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 01:57 PM PDT

Syrian rebel fighters run for cover from heavy fighting in the Saif al-Dawla district in the centre of Aleppo cityAMMAN/ALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) - The Syrian army shelled southern Damascus on Wednesday and helicopters fired rockets and machineguns during an assault meant to shore up President Bashar al-Assad's grip on the capital 17 months into an uprising, opposition activists said. The army has this week used tanks and helicopter gunships in an offensive around Damascus that coincided with the departure of U.N. military observers, their mission to stop the bloodshed and nudge Syria towards a peaceful transition a failure. ...

Insight: China ups lobbying game, but faces key tests in U.S., Canada

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:43 PM PDT

WASHINGTON/OTTAWA (Reuters) - Back in the day, before the U.S. Congress tore apart China's proposed multi-billion dollar deals with Western companies one after the other, Beijing's lobbying left little to the imagination. China's Washington embassy blasted out form letters to every U.S. lawmaker when it was upset with Congress, warning of grave damage to Sino-American relations, congressional aides recall. ...

Thousands being moved from China's Three Gorges - again

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 02:42 PM PDT

Ships sail on the Yangtze River near BadongHUANGTUPO, China (Reuters) - China relocated 1.3 million people during the 17 years it took to complete the Three Gorges dam. Even after finishing the $59 billion project last month, the threat of landslides along the dam's banks will force tens of thousands to move again. It's a reminder of the social and environmental challenges that have dogged the world's largest hydroelectric project. ...

Argentine Congress OKs state takeover of investigated firm

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 05:10 PM PDT

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina's Congress approved on Wednesday the expropriation of a currency-printing company whose ties to the country's vice president are under judicial investigation. The lower house voted 145-77 in favor of the bill, which President Cristina Fernandez sent to Congress just two weeks ago. Fernandez's allies regained control of Congress last year after a two-year interlude. ...

Mexico's new rulers win one more Congress seat in final result

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:32 PM PDT

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and its Green Party allies will have 241 of 500 seats in the lower house of Congress, one more than originally projected after the July 1 election, final results obtained by Reuters on Wednesday showed. The PRI, the party of incoming President Enrique Pena Nieto, will still be short of an absolute majority, but the extra seat will make it marginally easier for the next administration to form alliances in support of its reform agenda. ...

Analysis: Brazil's Rousseff boldly shuns base, embraces business

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 11:12 AM PDT

File photo of Brazil's President Rousseff attending an arrival ceremony before a ceremony for signing acts between Brazil and Venezuela in the Planalto PalaceBRASILIA (Reuters) - When President Dilma Rousseff announced a $65 billion privatization of Brazilian highways and railroads last week, she could hear air horns and furious chanting coming from outside the presidential palace. "Dilma, why have you abandoned us?" read a hand-made sign held up by one of the several hundred striking public-sector workers who had gathered to demand wage increases. ...

Bahrain Shi'ites battle police at protester's funeral

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 02:59 PM PDT

DUBAI (Reuters) - Protesters pelted police with petrol bombs and stones in clashes that broke out in Bahrain on Tuesday night at the funeral for a teenage demonstrator killed last week in a new bout of unrest in the U.S.-allied Gulf state. Police arrested eight protesters, the government said. The opposition accused the security forces of provoking the violence by firing tear gas. Bahrain, where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based, has been in crisis since a revolt led by majority Shi'ite Muslims began 18 months ago to demand democracy in the Sunni-ruled kingdom. ...

Death toll from Lebanon fighting climbs to 12

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 11:43 AM PDT

A Sunni Muslim gunman aims his rifle from the neighbourhood of Bab al-Tebbaneh in Tripoli, northern LebanonTRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - The death toll from fighting between Lebanese Sunni Muslims and Alawites echoing the conflict in Syria climbed to at least 12 on Wednesday, the third day of clashes described as some of the heaviest since Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war. More than 100 people have been wounded in the bloodshed this week along a sectarian fault line in the northern city of Tripoli running between the Sunni district of Bab al-Tabbaneh and the Alawite area of Jebel Mohsen. "A ceasefire was supposed to take place this afternoon but it did not happen," a Tripoli resident told Reuters. ...

IAEA head "not optimistic" on access to Iran military site

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 11:44 AM PDT

HELSINKI/VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief played down chances of a breakthrough when talks with Iran resume on Friday but said the agency would pursue access to a military site that diplomats say may have been cleansed of evidence of illicit nuclear activity. Visiting the Parchin complex has become a priority for the International Atomic Energy Agency as it seeks to end what the West sees as Iranian stonewalling of an IAEA investigation into allegations that Tehran has sought to design a nuclear weapon. "I cannot be too optimistic ... ...

Despite Assange claims, U.S. has no current case against him

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 02:33 PM PDT

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange gestures as he speaks from the balcony of Ecuador's embassy, where he is taking refuge in LondonWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite claims by Julian Assange that Washington is plotting to extradite and execute him, U.S. and European government sources say the United States has issued no criminal charges against the WikiLeaks founder and has launched no attempt to extradite him. Moreover, Obama administration officials remain divided over the wisdom of prosecuting Assange, the sources said, and the likelihood of U.S. criminal charges against him is probably receding rather than growing. The Obama administration has said Assange's immediate fate is in the hands of Britain, Sweden and Ecuador. ...

Afghans: Foreign spies at root of insider attacks

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 12:01 PM PDT

FILE - In this Saturday, March 3, 2012 file photo, Maj. Gen. David Quantock salutes Army Sgt. Timothy John Conrad, 22, who was killed in Afghanistan last week, at Conrad's funeral at Northside High School's auditorium in Roanoke, Va.. The 22-year-old Conrad was one of two U.S. military police officers killed Feb. 23 by an Afghan soldier amid anti-American sentiment over the burning of Qurans at a U.S. military base. The Afghan government is blaming the onslaught of attacks by Afghan police and soldiers against international forces on "infiltration by foreign spy agencies." Presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi told reporters Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2012 that intelligence services, including those in neighboring countries, are playing a part in most insider attacks.(AP Photo/The Roanoke Times, Rebecca Barnett, File)The Afghan government blamed foreign spy agencies for a rising number of killings where government soldiers and policemen have gunned down their international partners, and ordered stricter vetting of recruits and screening of those in the 350,000-member Afghan security force.

Syrian forces, rebels in major Damascus clashes

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 12:27 PM PDT

Syrian boys play on top of a destroyed military tank next to the rubble of a damaged mosque in the city of Azaz, on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria, Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)Syrian regime forces shelled two central Damascus districts Wednesday before troops backed by tanks swept through to carry out house-to-house raids, killing at least 35 suspected rebels, in a major flare-up of fighting in the Syrian capital, activists said.

Iran clings to Asian oil market as sanctions bite

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 12:01 PM PDT

FILE - In this Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011 file photo, an Iranian security guard stands at the Maroun Petrochemical plant at the Imam Khomeini port, southwestern Iran. When Iran welcomes leaders to a world gathering next week, few will get a grander reception than India's prime minister. As Tehran tries to offset the squeeze from Western oil sanctions, there is no greater priority than courting energy-hungry Asian markets. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)When Iran welcomes leaders to a world gathering next week, few will get a grander reception than India's prime minister. As Tehran tries to offset the squeeze from Western oil sanctions, there is no greater priority than courting energy-hungry Asian markets.

Ailing Egypt seeks $4.8 billion IMF loan

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 12:24 PM PDT

In this image released by the office of the Egyptian Presidency, International Monetary Fund Chief Christine Lagarde, second right, meets with Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, right, in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2012. Egypt's prime minister says his country has formally asked the International Monetary Fund for a $4.8 billion loan to help boost its battered economy, and that he expects to reach a deal by the end of the year. (AP Photo/Egyptian Presidency)Egypt formally asked the International Monetary Fund for a $4.8 billion loan on Wednesday, seeking a desperately needed rescue package for its faltering economy but raising the possibility of painful restructuring in a country still reeling since its revolution more than 18 months ago.

Russia joins WTO after 18 years of talks

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 08:46 AM PDT

Vendors wait for customers at a Moscow market, Russia, Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2012.On Wednesday Russia joins the World Trade Organization, 19 years after it first began negotiating entry into the group, which restricts import duties and subsidies in an attempt to create a truly level playing field for international trade. While consumers here are expected to benefit from the lower cost of imported goods, some worry that struggling industries long coddled by state subsidies, like agriculture and the automobile industry, would suffer from foreign competition. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)Russia has joined the World Trade Organization, a body which restricts import duties and subsidies to make international trade fair, after 18 years of negotiations.

In crisis, Greece rounds up immigrants

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 06:20 AM PDT

In this Thrusday Aug. 9, 2012 photo illegal immigrants walk along a road in Lavara village, northern Greece, near the borders with Turkey. Greece launched an aggressive campaign this month to try to seal its 200-kilometer (130-mile) northeastern border, as it faces a debilitating financial crisis that has caused a swell in joblessness and a surge in racist attacks against immigrants with dark skin.(AP Photo/Nikolas Giakoumidis)Border police jeeps hurtle along hot, dusty tracks past potato fields on their way to the river that marks the Greek-Turkish border. Sirens blaring, the convoys have been repelling wave after wave of migrants.

Israeli minister wants Palestinian leader's ouster

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 10:54 AM PDT

FILE - In this Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011 file photo, Israel's Foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman attends a media briefing at the ned of an EU-Israel Association Council at the European Council building in Brussels. Lieberman sent a letter to international Mideast peace mediators calling Abbas an "obstacle to peace." He wants them to push for Palestinian elections to choose a new leader. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe, File)Israel's foreign minister urged the international community to help oust Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas whose policies he called "an obstacle to peace" in a letter released Wednesday.

Mexico religious cult refuses to allow teachers in

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 04:32 PM PDT

Adherents of a religious sect in western Mexico are physically blocking school teachers from entering their walled community, setting up one of the most high-profile confrontations between religious and civil authorities in Mexico since the 1930s.

Norway vows 'humane' conditions for mass killer

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 11:57 AM PDT

FILE - In this Tuesday, April 17, 2012 file photo, accused Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik gestures as he arrives at the courtroom, in Oslo, Norway. Those expecting Anders Behring Breivik to spend the rest of his days alone in a cramped cell will be disappointed when the far-right fanatic receives his sentence Friday for killing 77 people in a bomb and gun rampage last year. If declared insane, the confessed killer will be the sole patient of a psychiatric ward that Norway built just for him, with 17 people on staff to treat him. If found mentally fit, he will remain isolated, for now, in the high-security prison where he disposes of three 86-square-foot (8-square-meter) cells: a bed room, an exercise room and a study. (AP Photo/Hakon Mosvold Larsen/Scanpix Norway, Pool, File)Those expecting Anders Behring Breivik to spend the rest of his days alone in a cramped cell will be disappointed when the far-right fanatic receives his sentence Friday for killing 77 people in a bomb and gun rampage last year.

Mexican court: Military law is unconstitutional

Posted: 22 Aug 2012 02:53 AM PDT

Mexico's Supreme Court on Tuesday declared unconstitutional a key portion of a military law that has broadened the influence of military courts and angered civilian victims seeking justice.

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