Yahoo! News: World News

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• Son of China's Bo Xilai defends his father
• Canada says it took Guantanamo detainee early after U.S. pressure
• Large part of ancient souk in Syria's Aleppo in ashes: activists
• Venezuela opposition fumes about deaths of party activists
• Kenya navy shells Somali town after rebels retreat
• Ex-wrestler props up India's PM, but he may want the job
• Georgia's Saakashvili challenged in parliamentary vote
• Two Kenyan police shot dead near Somalia border
• Palestinian authority aims to securitize $200 million of debt
• Nearly half of Yemenis go hungry post-revolt, says WFP
• US military deaths in Afghanistan hit 2,000
• Wave of bombings across Iraq leaves 26 dead
• Syria suicide blast kills 4 at security compound
• Iran swipe at Web brings angry reply
• Russian church: Pussy Riot deserve mercy if repent
• Capriles leads big rally in Venezuelan capital
• Georgian grape pickers show government's challenge
• Hugo Chavez says he'd vote for Obama
• Pakistan: In twist, Muslims accused of blasphemy
• Spain crisis fuels Catalan separatist sentiment

Son of China's Bo Xilai defends his father Posted: 30 Sep 2012 01:57 PM PDT BOSTON (Reuters) - The Harvard-educated son of disgraced Chinese political leader Bo Xilai defended his father against charges of taking bribes and having improper sexual relationships, saying he believed in his father's good character. "Personally, it is hard for me to believe the allegations that were announced against my father, because they contradict everything I have come to know about him throughout my life," Bo Guagua said in a statement posted on the microblog site Tumblr. ...

Canada says it took Guantanamo detainee early after U.S. pressure Posted: 30 Sep 2012 11:49 AM PDT OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada, which allowed Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr to be transferred to a prison in his homeland months earlier than expected, did so after pressure from the United States, Foreign Minister John Baird said on Sunday. Baird declined to comment on reports an angry Washington had insisted on Khadr's quick return after someone in Canada leaked a secret U.S. report on him. Khadr, 26, the youngest prisoner and last Westerner held in the Guantanamo military base, was sent back to Canada on Saturday to finish his sentence. ...

Large part of ancient souk in Syria's Aleppo in ashes: activists Posted: 30 Sep 2012 08:10 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Large parts of Aleppo's covered market, the largest of its kind in the world and a UNESCO world heritage site that traces its history back to the 14th century, have been reduced to ashes as government forces and rebels fight for control of the city. The historic market was largely undamaged by earlier fighting in Syria's largest city, but in the early hours of Saturday some of its shops caught fire during clashes in circumstances that remain unclear. ...

Venezuela opposition fumes about deaths of party activists Posted: 30 Sep 2012 02:49 PM PDT CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles demanded justice on Sunday for the shooting of three of his activists, while President Hugo Chavez promised to expand his socialist agenda if he wins next weekend's election. With a week to go, Venezuela's presidential race looks close and tensions are rising. On Saturday, gunmen killed three pro-Capriles activists in Barinas state - the worst violence of the campaign. ...

Kenya navy shells Somali town after rebels retreat Posted: 30 Sep 2012 02:23 PM PDT MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Kenyan warships shelled the southern Somali port of Kismayu overnight after al Qaeda-linked rebels said they had abandoned the city, residents said on Sunday. Stunned by an assault by sea, air and ground forces late on Friday night, al Shabaab rebels fled the city that had been their key source of revenue, retreating to surrounding forests and towns. However, there were conflicting reports on Sunday evening about how much of Kismayu African Union forces (AMISOM) now controlled. ...

Ex-wrestler props up India's PM, but he may want the job Posted: 30 Sep 2012 02:12 PM PDT LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) - As a former wrestler, Mulayam Singh Yadav has got India's government where he likes it - in a vice-like grip. The ructions over fresh economic reforms that reduced the ruling coalition to a parliamentary minority last month left Prime Minister Manmohan Singh dependent on this wheeler-dealer from the country's dusty northern plains. In an interview with Reuters, Yadav insisted there were no strings attached to his support for Singh's Congress party, just a desire to keep the opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) out of power. ...

Georgia's Saakashvili challenged in parliamentary vote Posted: 30 Sep 2012 01:34 PM PDT TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgians elect a parliament on Monday with tension high after a prison abuse scandal that has turned the vote into the biggest test of President Mikheil Saakashvili's grip on the Caucasus Mountain nation in nearly a decade in power. Saakashvili, a pro-Western leader who swept to the presidency after the bloodless Rose Revolution of 2003 and fought a five-day war with Russia in 2008, hopes to head off a challenge led by a once-reclusive tycoon with a fortune nearly half the size of the former Soviet republic's economy. ...

Two Kenyan police shot dead near Somalia border Posted: 30 Sep 2012 12:35 PM PDT GARISSA, Kenya (Reuters) - Two police officers were shot dead in Kenya on Sunday in the northern town of Garissa close to the border with Somalia, police said, hours after a child was killed in a grenade attack on a church in Nairobi. Kenya has been hit by a series of grenade and gun attacks since it sent troops into Somalia last October in pursuit of Islamist al Shabaab militants whom it blamed for kidnapping its security personnel and Western tourists. ...

Palestinian authority aims to securitize $200 million of debt Posted: 30 Sep 2012 01:54 PM PDT KUWAIT (Reuters) - Palestinian authorities are aiming to securitize an initial $200 million of some $1.3 billion worth of government debt by the first quarter of 2013 to help reduce state borrowing from local banks, a top banker said on Sunday. "The Ministry of Finance is much more ready for securitizing the old debt rather than creating new debt, because we are not even rated," Palestinian Monetary Authority Governor Jihad al-Wazir said ahead of a Monday meeting of Arab central bankers in Kuwait. ...

Nearly half of Yemenis go hungry post-revolt, says WFP Posted: 30 Sep 2012 11:27 AM PDT SANAA (Reuters) - Nearly half of Yemenis go to bed hungry every night as political instability compounds a global food and fuel price surge, giving the Arabian Peninsula state the world's third-highest rate of child malnutrition, the World Food Programme said on Sunday. Yemen has been in turmoil since last year's revolt against 33 years of rule by Ali Abdullah Saleh when already weak state control in outlying regions broke down as the army split into pro- and anti-Saleh factions and al Qaeda militants occupied some areas. ...

US military deaths in Afghanistan hit 2,000 Posted: 30 Sep 2012 09:21 AM PDT The killing of an American serviceman in an exchange of fire with allied Afghan soldiers pushed U.S. military deaths in the war to 2,000, a cold reminder of the perils that remain after an 11-year conflict that now garners little public interest at home.

Wave of bombings across Iraq leaves 26 dead Posted: 30 Sep 2012 10:52 AM PDT A series of coordinated bombings shattered Shiite neighborhoods and struck at Iraqi security forces Sunday, killing at least 26 in attacks that one official described as a rallying call by al-Qaida just days after dozens of militants escaped from prison.

Syria suicide blast kills 4 at security compound Posted: 30 Sep 2012 11:22 AM PDT A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb near a Syrian security compound in a remote, predominantly Kurdish town Sunday, killing at least four people, state media said, in a new sign that the country's largest ethnic minority might be drawn into a widening civil war.

Iran swipe at Web brings angry reply Posted: 30 Sep 2012 11:43 AM PDT Iran's cyber monitors often tout their fight against the West's "soft war" of influence through the Web, but trying to block Google's popular Gmail appeared to be a swipe too far.

Russian church: Pussy Riot deserve mercy if repent Posted: 30 Sep 2012 06:48 AM PDT The Russian Orthodox Church on Sunday asked for clemency for three jailed members of the rock band Pussy Riot if they repent for their "punk prayer" for deliverance from President Vladimir Putin at Moscow's main cathedral, a statement that came a day before an appeal hearing and appeared to reflect a desire to put an end to the case that has caused an international outrage.

Capriles leads big rally in Venezuelan capital Posted: 30 Sep 2012 04:47 PM PDT A huge crowd filled the streets of Venezuela's capital on Sunday cheering for opposition candidate Henrique Capriles, waving flags in a show of support one week before the country's hotly contested presidential election.

Georgian grape pickers show government's challenge Posted: 30 Sep 2012 11:29 AM PDT The green grapes that Temuri Dolenjashvili and his wife snipped from the vines Sunday and emptied by the bucket into the back of their truck provide the only income for their extended family of five.

Hugo Chavez says he'd vote for Obama Posted: 30 Sep 2012 12:11 PM PDT Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has weighed in on the U.S. presidential race, saying he prefers President Barack Obama.

Pakistan: In twist, Muslims accused of blasphemy Posted: 30 Sep 2012 09:41 AM PDT Pakistan's blasphemy laws may be used to punish Muslims suspected of ransacking a Hindu temple in an intriguing twist for a country where harsh laws governing religious insults are primarily used against supposed offenses to Islam, not minority faiths.

Spain crisis fuels Catalan separatist sentiment Posted: 30 Sep 2012 11:38 AM PDT Three weeks after a massive Catalan separatist march in Barcelona — the biggest since the 1970s — the independence flags still flutter from balconies across Spain's second largest city.

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