Yahoo! News: World News

---

• Syrian troops storm Damascus refugee area, chase rebels
• Teenage bomber kills six near NATO HQ in Kabul
• Thousands of Greeks protest against new round of austerity cuts
• French hostages kidnapped in Niger by al Qaeda appear in video
• Dutch PM warns voters of Labour threat as parties tie in new poll
• Yemen army kills four suspected Islamist militants
• EU needs to help stem regional water conflicts
• Magnitude 5.6 quake hits Costa Rica
• Nicaraguan volcano spews ash cloud, residents evacuated
• Egypt, Israel coordinating on Sinai security sweep: army
• Suicide bomb kills 6 near NATO gate in Afghanistan
• Captive US soldier safe, says Haqqani commander
• Police search UK home of couple slain in France
• Nicaragua evacuates 3,000 as volcano spews ash
• Tweets of false shootouts cause panic in Mexico
• Egypt flights delayed due to work slowdown
• NGO disputes official report on Honduras shooting
• Bermuda on alert as storm likely to skirt island
• Ex-Beatle McCartney gets French legion of honor
• Monti calls for EU summit to confront populism

Syrian troops storm Damascus refugee area, chase rebels Posted: 08 Sep 2012 10:29 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian government troops stormed an area of Damascus populated by Palestinian refugees on Saturday after a four-day artillery assault on the southern suburb where rebels have been sheltering, opposition activists said. President Bashar al-Assad's forces have largely preferred to use air power and artillery to hit areas where rebels are dug in, deploying infantry only once many have fled. Activists said the new ground onslaught put civilians at risk. ...

Teenage bomber kills six near NATO HQ in Kabul Posted: 08 Sep 2012 06:16 AM PDT KABUL (Reuters) - A 14-year-old suicide bomber detonated explosives near the heavily barricaded NATO headquarters in Kabul on Saturday, killing six civilians including children, NATO and local officials said. The bomber wore a vest packed with explosives and rode right up to the NATO gates on a bicycle, underscoring the insurgents' ability to strike deep inside the Afghan capital, ahead of the withdrawal of most foreign combat forces by the end of 2014. Pieces of flesh and splattered blood lay on the street near the base, where the small bodies of children were lifted into ambulances. ...

Thousands of Greeks protest against new round of austerity cuts Posted: 08 Sep 2012 01:17 PM PDT THESSALONIKI, Greece (Reuters) - Thousands of Greeks marched at an annual fair in Greece's second-biggest city on Saturday to protest against a new round of wage and pension cuts demanded by international lenders in exchange for aid to stave off bankruptcy. The demonstration by about 15,000 trade unionists and leftists was the first major protest against a nearly 12-billion-euro austerity package being readied by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to appease EU and IMF inspectors who arrived in Athens on Friday to review Greece's reform progress. ...

French hostages kidnapped in Niger by al Qaeda appear in video Posted: 08 Sep 2012 12:42 PM PDT PARIS (Reuters) - Four French men kidnapped by al Qaeda militants in northern Niger almost two years ago appeared in a video on Saturday appealing to French President Francois Hollande and their employers to continue negotiations to secure their release. The seven-minute video, posted on a Mauritanian news website, shows the four men - Pierre Legrand, Daniel Larribe, Thierry Dole and Marc Ferret - looking healthy and kneeling in a desert setting with armed men in traditional Bedouin clothing and turbans standing over them carrying kalashnikov rifles. ...

Dutch PM warns voters of Labour threat as parties tie in new poll Posted: 08 Sep 2012 03:34 PM PDT AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Two pro-European Dutch political parties are now in a dead heat in the run-up to the September 12 general election which has been dominated by the euro zone crisis, according to an opinion poll published late on Saturday. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte stepped up his attack on the opposition Labour Party at the weekend after it surged in the opinion polls to run neck and neck with his own pro-austerity Liberal Party ahead of next week's general election. ...

Yemen army kills four suspected Islamist militants Posted: 08 Sep 2012 12:49 PM PDT ADEN (Reuters) - Four suspected Islamist militants have been killed in a gunfight with Yemen's army and allied tribal fighters in the impoverished country's turbulent south, which has become al Qaeda's most formidable base, a local official said on Saturday. Up to 50 militant fighters were battling government forces and their tribal allies in mountains near the town of Jaar, which the army recaptured in June after a 15 month occupation by Ansar al-Sharia. ...

EU needs to help stem regional water conflicts Posted: 08 Sep 2012 03:23 PM PDT PAPHOS, Cyprus (Reuters) - European governments must wield their influence and engineering skills more effectively to prevent conflicts over water supply that could threaten global security, the European Union's policy chief Catherine Ashton said. The EU has a strategic interest in ensuring stability in regions with some of the world's biggest water problems, including North Africa after the Arab Spring revolts and Central Asia which holds crucial energy reserves. Ashton said the Nile basin was a particular concern. ...

Magnitude 5.6 quake hits Costa Rica Posted: 08 Sep 2012 04:16 PM PDT (Reuters) - A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck northwestern Costa Rica on Saturday, three days after a powerful 7.6-magnitude quake hit the Central American country. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake on Saturday was centered 40 miles south-southeast of Liberia, Costa Rica, at a depth of 22 miles. There was no immediate report of damage. Wednesday's quake, the severest in Costa Rica in over two decades, sparked landslides and knocked down buildings, but caused no deaths. It was also centered in the northwestern part of the country. (Editing by Peter Cooney)

Nicaraguan volcano spews ash cloud, residents evacuated Posted: 08 Sep 2012 02:46 PM PDT MANAGUA (Reuters) - Nicaragua's highest volcano belched an ash plume up to 3 miles into the atmosphere on Saturday, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of nearby residents. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, authorities said. But the government issued a yellow alert, indicating emergency plans had been activated. The plume formed a cloud extending 30-miles from the 5,725-foot (1,745-meter) San Cristobal volcano, which is about 95 miles north of the capital Managua in the country's volcano-dotted northwest, said the Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies, or Ineter. ...

Egypt, Israel coordinating on Sinai security sweep: army Posted: 08 Sep 2012 09:03 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt and Israel are coordinating on Cairo's biggest security sweep in decades against militants in Sinai, in which 32 people have been killed, an army spokesman said on Saturday, the first clear statement on communication between the neighbors. Israel fears Islamist militants, possibly linked to al Qaeda, have gained a foothold in the Sinai border area since the overthrow last year of President Hosni Mubarak. ...

Suicide bomb kills 6 near NATO gate in Afghanistan Posted: 08 Sep 2012 12:20 PM PDT A suicide bomber struck at the heart of NATO's operation in Kabul on Saturday, killing at least six Afghan civilians in an attack that officials blamed on the Haqqani network — a militant group the U.S. has designated a terrorist organization.

Captive US soldier safe, says Haqqani commander Posted: 08 Sep 2012 12:24 PM PDT A U.S. soldier held by Afghan militants will not be harmed despite the Obama administration's decision to declare his alleged captors a terrorist group, a senior member of the Pakistan-based Haqqani network told The Associated Press on Saturday. However, the United States and NATO can expect stepped up attacks, he said.

Police search UK home of couple slain in France Posted: 08 Sep 2012 02:54 PM PDT French and British police searched the U.K. home of a British-Iraqi couple slain while vacationing in the French Alps, as it emerged Saturday that all four people killed in the attack took two gunshots to the head. Meanwhile, relatives arrived in France to help care for the couple's two surviving daughters, one of whom was badly wounded.

Nicaragua evacuates 3,000 as volcano spews ash Posted: 08 Sep 2012 02:38 PM PDT The San Cristobal volcano spewed out a column of ash and gas 2½ miles high Saturday, leading Nicaraguan authorities to evacuate about 3,000 people from nine communities around the country's tallest mountain.

Tweets of false shootouts cause panic in Mexico Posted: 08 Sep 2012 08:36 AM PDT Mothers rushed to pull their kids out of school, shopkeepers slammed down their metal gates, and bus drivers radioed one another about streets to avoid after false rumors of shootouts and gunmen traveling in a caravan in a Mexico City suburb began circulating on social networks.

Egypt flights delayed due to work slowdown Posted: 08 Sep 2012 01:55 PM PDT Dozens of airplane flights leaving Cairo were delayed Saturday because of a work slowdown by the baggage handlers of Egypt's national carrier, officials said. It was the second day in a row in which labor unrest at the country's main airport disrupted travel.

NGO disputes official report on Honduras shooting Posted: 08 Sep 2012 04:38 PM PDT A U.S.-based non-governmental organization on Saturday criticized Honduras' official investigation of a fatal shooting during a drug interdiction operation after its conclusions contradicted reports of witnesses and the group's own investigation into what happened.

Bermuda on alert as storm likely to skirt island Posted: 08 Sep 2012 02:00 PM PDT Tropical Storm Leslie moved slowly northward Saturday after pausing to spin in place over the Atlantic, and forecasters expected it to strengthen into a hurricane again before passing to the east of Bermuda.

Ex-Beatle McCartney gets French legion of honor Posted: 08 Sep 2012 04:26 PM PDT France's Elysee Palace says former Beatle Paul McCartney has been decorated with the legion of honor for services to music.

Monti calls for EU summit to confront populism Posted: 08 Sep 2012 11:44 AM PDT Italian Premier Mario Monti on Saturday proposed a special European summit to confront growing populism in the face of the continent's financial crisis.

You are subscribed to email updates from World News Headlines - Yahoo! News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610