Yahoo! News: World News

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• Syria government indicates accepts holiday truce: Russia
• Clinton: Facebook post about Benghazi attack not hard "evidence"
• Sudan blames Israeli air strike hit for munitions plant blasts
• African Union reinstates Mali ahead of military action
• Ecuador fears for Assange's health, seeks UK safe passage
• Insight: Pakistani death squads spur desperate voyage to Australia
• Russia demands expulsion of reporters, envoys over U.N. leaks
• Tunisia jails Salafist leader in U.S. embassy attack for one year
• Israel says 79 rockets fired at it from Gaza
• Pro-government forces seize old Gaddafi bastion Bani Walid
• 3,200 African troops needed to fight Mali rebels
• Number of murdered Somali reporters grows to 16
• UN Security Council endorses Syria holiday truce
• Auschwitz prisoner and photographer dies at 95
• NYT defends incoming chief amid BBC scandal
• In Latin America, incumbents increasingly dominate
• Use of chains denounced by accused in Guantanamo
• Hurricane Sandy pounds Jamaica en route to Cuba
• Prison, $7 billion fine for French rogue trader
• Gazans blast Israel with rockets, draws airstrikes
• Confounding expectations, global hunger is down (+video)
• Will Italy's L'Aquila quake verdict have a chill on science?
• Momentum builds for Gaza to secede, Israel and West Bank to become one
• Will the Tour de France be able to overcome Lance's legacy?
• South African police unit prosecuted for fighting violence with thuggery
• Russian report criticizes US on human rights, US responds 'bring it on'
• Brahimi's plan for Syria cease-fire takes two steps forward, one step back
• Why Lebanon isn't headed for civil war
• Can a gang truce in El Salvador open the door to lasting peace?
• Covered in tattoos, can El Salvador's gangs reintegrate into society?
• MS-13 labeled transnational criminal organization. Who are the 'Maras?'

Syria government indicates accepts holiday truce: Russia Posted: 24 Oct 2012 12:55 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has indicated to Russia that it will accept U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi's proposal for a Muslim holiday ceasefire in Syria, Moscow's U.N. envoy said on Wednesday. "We have had indications that they (Syria's government) are accepting the proposal of Mr. Brahimi," Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters after a closed-door meeting of the 15-nation Security Council during which Brahimi briefed council members via video link from Egypt. ...

Clinton: Facebook post about Benghazi attack not hard "evidence" Posted: 24 Oct 2012 09:54 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday a Facebook post in which an Islamic militant group claimed credit for a recent attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya did not constitute hard evidence of who was responsible. "Posting something on Facebook is not in and of itself evidence. I think it just underscores how fluid the reporting was at the time and continued for some time to be," Clinton said during an appearance with the Brazilian foreign minister at the State Department. ...

Sudan blames Israeli air strike hit for munitions plant blasts Posted: 24 Oct 2012 02:02 PM PDT KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan said on Wednesday that an Israeli air strike had caused the huge explosion and fire at an arms factory in Khartoum that killed two people, but Israel's defense minister declined to comment. Sudan, which analysts say is used as an arms-smuggling route to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip via neighboring Egypt, has blamed Israel for such strikes in the past, but Israel has either refused to comment or said it neither admitted or denied involvement. ...

African Union reinstates Mali ahead of military action Posted: 24 Oct 2012 03:47 PM PDT ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The African Union (AU) lifted Mali's suspension from the bloc on Wednesday, saying an African plan to intervene militarily to help the country claw back territory from Islamist militants would be ready within weeks. The pan-African body also laid out a political road map which foresees elections in the beleaguered West African country by April even as it is still grappling with the fallout from a coup in March this year. ...

Ecuador fears for Assange's health, seeks UK safe passage Posted: 24 Oct 2012 01:34 PM PDT MOSCOW/LONDON (Reuters) - Ecuador is worried about the health of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and has asked Britain to guarantee him safe passage from its London embassy to hospital if he needs medical treatment, a senior Ecuadorean diplomat said in Moscow. Assange, an Australian, has been holed up inside Ecuador's embassy in central London since June to avoid extradition to Sweden to face rape and sexual assault allegations. British authorities say Assange will be arrested if he sets foot outside the embassy. ...

Insight: Pakistani death squads spur desperate voyage to Australia Posted: 24 Oct 2012 02:04 PM PDT QUETTA, Pakistan/PUNCAK,Indonesia (Reuters) - It was 3 a.m. when Abid Warasi and his friend clambered into an Indonesian fishing boat, joining 300 other migrants packed into the hold. Only a few days away by sea, Australia seemed tantalizingly close. Six hours into the voyage, the craft overturned. The two teenagers clung to the upturned hull. One by one, survivors lost purchase and drifted away, their dreams swallowed by the warm waters of the Java Sea. ...

Russia demands expulsion of reporters, envoys over U.N. leaks Posted: 24 Oct 2012 02:13 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia slammed leaks to the media from a closed-door Security Council briefing on Syria on Wednesday, saying diplomats and journalists involved should be stripped of U.N. accreditation for the release of confidential information. Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin was angry that some diplomats conveyed to Reuters that the U.N.-Arab League mediator for the Syrian conflict, Lakhdar Brahimi, told the 15-member council that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had accepted Brahimi's plan for an Eid holiday ceasefire. ...

Tunisia jails Salafist leader in U.S. embassy attack for one year Posted: 24 Oct 2012 04:10 PM PDT Tunis (Reuters) - A Tunisian court on Wednesday sentenced a leader of radical Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia to one year in prison for inciting an attack on the U.S. embassy in Tunis last month in which four people were killed. The conviction of Abu Ayub was the first in connection with the attack - launched to protest against an anti-Islamic film made in California - and is likely to please the United States which has been urging the authorities to jail those responsible. "The judge decided to jail him on charges of inciting violence ... This decision is unfair ... ...

Israel says 79 rockets fired at it from Gaza Posted: 24 Oct 2012 02:23 PM PDT JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinians fired dozens of rockets into Israel from Gaza on Wednesday and an Israeli air strike killed a militant, a day after the Emir of Qatar made a rare visit to the enclave's Hamas leadership. Hamas claimed responsibility for some of the rocket and mortar bomb attacks, prompting some Israelis to wonder whether it had been emboldened by the Qatari visit on Tuesday that broke the Islamist group's diplomatic isolation. ...

Pro-government forces seize old Gaddafi bastion Bani Walid Posted: 24 Oct 2012 10:22 AM PDT BANI WALID, Libya (Reuters) - Forces loyal to Libya's government took control of the former Gaddafi stronghold of Bani Walid on Wednesday, commanders said, after weeks of fighting that have underlined the weakness of central authority more than a year after Libya's revolution. Pro-government fighters shouted "Bani Walid is free!" as pick-up trucks mounted with weapons poured into the center of the isolated hilltop town, one of the last to surrender last year to the rebels who toppled Muammar Gaddafi. ...

3,200 African troops needed to fight Mali rebels Posted: 24 Oct 2012 03:14 PM PDT The African Union on Wednesday pledged to mobilize an African military force to battle al-Qaida-affiliated groups controlling northern Mali.

Number of murdered Somali reporters grows to 16 Posted: 24 Oct 2012 02:42 PM PDT The list of murdered Somali journalists keeps growing longer, and no one seems able to stop it.

UN Security Council endorses Syria holiday truce Posted: 24 Oct 2012 02:35 PM PDT The U.N. Security Council gave unanimous backing Wednesday to a four-day truce proposed by the international mediator for Syria to mark a major Muslim holiday after he warned that the failure of yet another cease-fire plan would only worsen the fighting.

Auschwitz prisoner and photographer dies at 95 Posted: 24 Oct 2012 01:36 PM PDT The images are haunting: naked and emaciated children at Auschwitz standing shoulder-to-shoulder, adult prisoners in striped garb posing for police-style mug shots.

NYT defends incoming chief amid BBC scandal Posted: 24 Oct 2012 04:05 PM PDT The New York Times stood by its incoming chief Wednesday, even as questions about a BBC child sex abuse scandal followed him from one of Britain's most respected news organizations to one of America's.

In Latin America, incumbents increasingly dominate Posted: 24 Oct 2012 04:08 PM PDT After four election wins, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is on track to completing at least 20 years in power, and supporters such as street bookseller Cristina Tovar say they're glad to have him in charge.

Use of chains denounced by accused in Guantanamo Posted: 24 Oct 2012 01:44 PM PDT The Guantanamo Bay prisoner charged with orchestrating the attack on the Navy destroyer USS Cole denounced his treatment at the hands of the U.S. military, telling the judge in his case on Wednesday that he is subjected to painful and unnecessary security measures.

Hurricane Sandy pounds Jamaica en route to Cuba Posted: 24 Oct 2012 04:32 PM PDT Hurricane Sandy's howling winds and pelting rains lashed precarious shantytowns, stranded travelers and downed power lines Wednesday as it roared across Jamaica on a course that would take it on to Cuba and then possibly threaten Florida and the Bahamas.

Prison, $7 billion fine for French rogue trader Posted: 24 Oct 2012 02:25 PM PDT A former junior trader for France's second-largest bank who was ordered Wednesday to pay back a staggering €4.9 billion (about $7 billion) in damages to his ex-employer is painting himself as the victim of a financial system that runs on greed.

Gazans blast Israel with rockets, draws airstrikes Posted: 24 Oct 2012 02:04 PM PDT Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip fired dozens of rockets and mortar shells into southern Israel on Wednesday in the heaviest bombardment on the area in months, drawing ominous Israeli threats of retaliation and dangers of escalation.

Confounding expectations, global hunger is down (+video) Posted: 24 Oct 2012 01:05 PM PDT After famine in Somalia, extreme hunger in Sudan, and increased concern about global food security in recent years, it might have seemed inevitable that world hunger would rise. In 2009, world food experts told us it would.

Will Italy's L'Aquila quake verdict have a chill on science? Posted: 24 Oct 2012 10:04 AM PDT Finding a group of Italian scientists guilty of multiple manslaughter charges for failing to give adequate warnings of a massive earthquake in 2009 will paralyze the country's scientific community, critics of the controversial case say.

Momentum builds for Gaza to secede, Israel and West Bank to become one Posted: 24 Oct 2012 09:43 AM PDT After decades of the "two states for two people" blueprint more or less dominating proposals for Israeli-Palestinian peace, a new paradigm is gaining momentum. Under this model, Israel absorbs the West Bank and its 2.5 million Palestinians, while Hamas-run Gaza becomes a separate entity aligned with the Middle East's rising Islamist powers.

Will the Tour de France be able to overcome Lance's legacy? Posted: 24 Oct 2012 09:24 AM PDT At a ceremony here Wednesday full of high-octane hoopla to unveil next year's route, the Tour de France turned its back on the man who once dominated the event longer than any other, and looked resolutely to the future.

South African police unit prosecuted for fighting violence with thuggery Posted: 24 Oct 2012 08:46 AM PDT An elite South African police unit that has previously won praise for its high arrest and conviction rates of dangerous criminals is facing prosecution over accusations it was operating a death squad that executed suspects with impunity.

Russian report criticizes US on human rights, US responds 'bring it on' Posted: 24 Oct 2012 08:39 AM PDT Russian officials claim they are tired of being criticized by the United States government for Russia's alleged human rights abuses, democratic deficiencies, and systemic inadequacies, in many cases from a standpoint that's less than objective, often ignorant of cultural relativities and sometimes downright hypocritical.

Brahimi's plan for Syria cease-fire takes two steps forward, one step back Posted: 24 Oct 2012 06:10 AM PDT • A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

Why Lebanon isn't headed for civil war Posted: 24 Oct 2012 05:56 AM PDT Five days after a devastating bomb attack killed a top Lebanese security chief sparking minor clashes and road blockages by his supporters, a semblance of calm has returned to a country that has little interest in starting a new civil war.

Can a gang truce in El Salvador open the door to lasting peace? Posted: 24 Oct 2012 05:00 AM PDT The streets of this city's toughest barrios are quieter than they have been in years – a disquieting tranquility, residents say, because it has come from a truce no one believed possible between two of the country's most violent rival gangs. It is a pact no one can be sure will last, yet hopes are growing.

Covered in tattoos, can El Salvador's gangs reintegrate into society? Posted: 24 Oct 2012 05:00 AM PDT What happens when your past life of crime is literally written across your face? For gang members in El Salvador, their characteristic excess of tattoos often betrays their affiliation: 18th Street or Mara Salvatrucha-13 (MS-13).

MS-13 labeled transnational criminal organization. Who are the 'Maras?' Posted: 24 Oct 2012 05:00 AM PDT When Salvadorans immigrated to California in large numbers beginning in the late 1970s, fleeing civil war in their homeland, many landed in Los Angeles and collided with the city's gang culture. Facing prejudice and exclusion, and following the example of the city's Mexican criminal gangs, Salvadorans and other Central Americans began to form their own street gangs, known as maras.

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