Yahoo! News: World News

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• NATO warns Syria not to use chemical weapons
• Egypt's Mursi leaves palace as police battle protesters
• EU considers response to Israeli settlement building plans
• Iran says it captures drone; U.S. denies losing one
• Arab Spring to take years to improve women's rights: activists
• U.S. court hearing set in Strauss-Kahn civil lawsuit
• Peace talks with Congo rebels expected this week
• Mali government, Islamists and separatists agree on peace talks
• Israel gets same-sex divorce before same-sex marriage
• Merkel's conservatives show total unity before 2013 election
• 100,000 protest at Egypt's presidential palace
• Fighting surges around Syrian capital of Damascus
• AP IMPACT: An insider attack: Trust cost 2 lives
• McAfee says he plans to seek asylum in Guatemala
• Royal pregnancy highlights succession issues
• Palestinian war crimes case faces long road
• UN experts: Rwanda led rebels in capture of Goma
• NATO backs Patriot anti-missile system for Turkey
• Iran claims US drone capture; Navy denies loss
• Criticism of Dutch "Black Pete" tradition grows
• Israel faces lowest point in Europe relations in decades
• Syrian rebels riding momentum to Damascus
• Did Egypt's President Morsi overplay his hand?
• India's sports bureaucracy booted from the Olympics
• Inside the mind of Iran's Khamenei
• North Korea preps for rocket launch despite international warnings
• Analysis: For Hamas, a validation
• Watch your tongue: Prejudiced comments illegal in Brazil.
• Europe's big powers unify to push against Israel settlement plans
• Analysis: Positions remain entrenched after Gaza conflict
• Fight over snack in China lights up blogosphere
• Did Iran just down a US drone by 'spoofing'?
• Boy or girl, Kate's royal offspring likely to reign - eventually

NATO warns Syria not to use chemical weapons Posted: 04 Dec 2012 11:44 AM PST BRUSSELS/BEIRUT (Reuters) - NATO told Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday that any use of chemical weapons in his fight against encroaching rebel forces would be met by an immediate international response. The warning from NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen came as U.S. government sources said Washington had information that Syria was making what could be seen as preparations to use its chemical arsenal. ...

Egypt's Mursi leaves palace as police battle protesters Posted: 04 Dec 2012 10:49 AM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian police battled thousands of protesters outside President Mohamed Mursi's palace in Cairo on Tuesday, prompting the Islamist leader to leave the building, presidency sources said. Officers fired teargas at up to 10,000 demonstrators angered by Mursi's drive to hold a referendum on a new constitution on December 15. Some broke through police lines around his palace and protested next to the perimeter wall. ...

EU considers response to Israeli settlement building plans Posted: 04 Dec 2012 02:25 PM PST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union states struggled to agree on Tuesday on a common response to Israel's plans to expand settlements in the West Bank, highlighting the divisions within the bloc over how to tackle the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. At a meeting in Brussels, ambassadors responsible for security issues discussed the possibility of all 27 EU states writing to Tel Aviv to express their displeasure or calling in Israeli ambassadors for consultations, as five EU countries have already done. ...

Iran says it captures drone; U.S. denies losing one Posted: 04 Dec 2012 12:14 PM PST DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran said on Tuesday it had captured a U.S. intelligence ScanEagle drone in its airspace over the Gulf in the last few days, but the United States said there was no evidence to support the assertion. The U.S. Navy said had not lost any unmanned aircraft in the area. The four-foot (1.25 meter) surveillance drones built by Boeing Co are deployed in the region by the United States military and also by other countries. In Washington, White House spokesman Jay Carney said: "We have no evidence that the Iranian claims are true. ...

Arab Spring to take years to improve women's rights: activists Posted: 04 Dec 2012 02:18 PM PST LONDON (Reuters) - The Arab Spring has failed to deliver greater political power to women in the region or to offer them better protection from sexual harassment, but may yet yield female-friendly reform, a conference on women's rights heard on Tuesday. Human rights campaigners had hoped that women's involvement in protests that toppled governments in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen and overthrew Muammar Gaddafi in Libya would lead to more power for women in Arab states. The uprisings unseated a string of autocrats and triggered some change, including relatively free elections. ...

U.S. court hearing set in Strauss-Kahn civil lawsuit Posted: 04 Dec 2012 03:04 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lawyers for former International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the hotel maid who accused him of sexual assault were ordered on Tuesday to appear in New York state court next week to brief a judge on the status of settlement talks in the maid's civil case against him. The setting of the court date comes just days after a source familiar with the matter said the two sides had reached a preliminary agreement to settle the case. ...

Peace talks with Congo rebels expected this week Posted: 04 Dec 2012 11:43 AM PST GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Negotiations between the Congolese government and eastern rebels are expected to take place this week, regional officials said on Tuesday after the insurgents withdrew from the city of Goma. The eight-month insurgency by M23 rebels poses the biggest threat to Congolese President Joseph Kabila in years and risks developing into a war that could drag in neighboring armies. Two officials from Uganda, which has been brokering peace talks between the Congolese government and M23, said the two sides were expected in the Ugandan capital Kampala this ...

Mali government, Islamists and separatists agree on peace talks Posted: 04 Dec 2012 04:07 PM PST OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Mali's government and the two rebel groups that took control of the northern half of the country in April, have met for the first time and agreed to negotiate an end to the crisis, a minister from mediator Burkina Faso said on Tuesday. A delegation of Malian government officials met representatives of the separatist Tuareg MNLA, whose initial rebellion was hijacked by al Qaeda-linked Ansar Dine. The Islamist militant group was also represented in the meeting in the Burkina Faso capital of Ouagadougou. ...

Israel gets same-sex divorce before same-sex marriage Posted: 04 Dec 2012 01:55 PM PST JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli court has awarded the country's first divorce to a gay couple, which experts called an ironic milestone since same-sex marriages cannot be legally conducted in the Jewish state. A decision this week by a family court in the Tel Aviv area "determined that the marriage should be ended" between former Israeli lawmaker Uzi Even, 72, and his partner of 23 years, Amit Kama, 52, their lawyer, Judith Meisels, said on Tuesday. ...

Merkel's conservatives show total unity before 2013 election Posted: 04 Dec 2012 12:26 PM PST HANOVER, Germany (Reuters) - Germany's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) put on a show of total unity at a congress on Tuesday, re-electing Angela Merkel as party leader by a record margin as she prepares to fight for a third term as chancellor. Merkel, at the height of her popularity, was returned unopposed as CDU chairwoman with 97.9 percent of votes from delegates who stood and applauded her for nearly eight minutes after she lauded Germany's economic resilience in the euro crisis and promised to fight for jobs and prosperity. ...

100,000 protest at Egypt's presidential palace Posted: 04 Dec 2012 03:25 PM PST More than 100,000 Egyptians protested outside the presidential palace in Cairo on Tuesday, fueling tensions over Islamist leader Mohammed Morsi's seizure of nearly unrestricted powers and the adoption by his allies of a controversial draft constitution.

Fighting surges around Syrian capital of Damascus Posted: 04 Dec 2012 12:03 PM PST Syria's civil war is closing in on President Bashar Assad's seat of power in Damascus with clashes between government forces and rebels flaring around the city Tuesday, raising fears the capital will become the next major battlefield in the 20-month-old conflict.

AP IMPACT: An insider attack: Trust cost 2 lives Posted: 04 Dec 2012 08:54 AM PST It was a sneak attack, but not by the enemy they feared.

McAfee says he plans to seek asylum in Guatemala Posted: 04 Dec 2012 04:14 PM PST Software company founder John McAfee has surfaced in public for the first time in weeks, saying Tuesday that he plans to ask for asylum in Guatemala because he fears persecution in Belize.

Royal pregnancy highlights succession issues Posted: 04 Dec 2012 12:07 PM PST The business of monarchy has always been stacked in favor of men. Not any more — or so the British government promises.

Palestinian war crimes case faces long road Posted: 04 Dec 2012 02:44 PM PST Days after winning upgraded status at the United Nations, the Palestinians are threatening to join the world's first permanent war crimes court and pursue charges against the Israelis.

UN experts: Rwanda led rebels in capture of Goma Posted: 04 Dec 2012 04:56 PM PST U.N. experts accused the Rwandan military of commanding Congolese rebel forces in their recent capture of the strategic city of Goma, saying a top Rwandan commander traveled to Congo to oversee the offensive and hundreds of Rwandan troops fought alongside the M23 rebel fighters.

NATO backs Patriot anti-missile system for Turkey Posted: 04 Dec 2012 11:02 AM PST NATO announced Tuesday that it will deploy Patriot anti-missile systems near Turkey's southern border, shoring up defenses against the threat of cross-border attacks from Syria and bringing the United States and its allies closer to Syria's civil war.

Iran claims US drone capture; Navy denies loss Posted: 04 Dec 2012 10:32 AM PST Iran claimed Tuesday it had taken another prize in a growing showdown with Washington over drone surveillance, displaying a purported U.S. unmanned aircraft it said was captured intact. The U.S. Navy, however, said none of its drones in the region was missing.

Criticism of Dutch "Black Pete" tradition grows Posted: 04 Dec 2012 08:42 AM PST Foreigners visiting the Netherlands in winter are often surprised to see that the Dutch version of St. Nicholas' helpers have their faces painted black, wear Afro wigs and have thick red lips — in short, a racist caricature of a black person.

Israel faces lowest point in Europe relations in decades Posted: 04 Dec 2012 12:51 PM PST The unusually strong European rebuke of Israel's plans to tighten its grip on land sought for a Palestinian state marks at least a 30-year low point in relations, say Israeli foreign policy scholars. While the nature of Europe's complaint is not new, the tone reflects both heightened urgency about salvaging the two-state solution, and accumulated impatience with a government seen as diplomatically tone deaf.

Syrian rebels riding momentum to Damascus Posted: 04 Dec 2012 02:04 PM PST After avoiding much of the sustained fighting seen throughout Syria over the course of the nation's 20-month revolution turned civil war, Damascus entered its fifth day of ongoing clashes on Tuesday.

Did Egypt's President Morsi overplay his hand? Posted: 04 Dec 2012 01:04 PM PST On Dec. 15, Egypt is scheduled to hold a referendum on a new constitution that had already sharply polarized the Arab world's largest nation. But after today's events, it's hard to not conclude that something is going to have to give between now and then.

India's sports bureaucracy booted from the Olympics Posted: 04 Dec 2012 12:50 PM PST In a rare move, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided Tuesday to suspend India's national Olympic body, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), citing bad governance and meddling by the Indian government.

Inside the mind of Iran's Khamenei Posted: 04 Dec 2012 10:09 AM PST Deep inside an old Tehran political prison, three turns off a dark corridor and through a small gap, lies a bleak cell for solitary confinement. Too narrow for a prisoner to extend his arms, it was once the cell of the man who today holds the official title in Iran, "God's deputy on earth."

North Korea preps for rocket launch despite international warnings Posted: 04 Dec 2012 09:20 AM PST North Korea appears certain to fire a long-range rocket this month in defiance of appeals by friends and foes alike to give up the plan in the interests of regional stability.

Analysis: For Hamas, a validation Posted: 04 Dec 2012 08:35 AM PST Palestinians in Gaza are rebuilding homes and businesses and mourning the 176 residents who died in the latest round of fighting with Israel.

Watch your tongue: Prejudiced comments illegal in Brazil. Posted: 04 Dec 2012 08:11 AM PST In an amateur online video, Afonso Henrique Alves Lobato describes how he and fellow members of his Evangelical church snuck into a spiritual center of Umbanda, an Afro-Brazilian faith that venerates deities originating from Africa in services led by a religious figure called a pai de santo.

Europe's big powers unify to push against Israel settlement plans Posted: 04 Dec 2012 08:13 AM PST Last month, the British government was among those backing Israel's assault against Hamas targets in the Gaza strip. Days ago, it endured strong criticism at home for refusing to support the Palestinians' bid for enhanced recognition at the UN.

Analysis: Positions remain entrenched after Gaza conflict Posted: 04 Dec 2012 07:30 AM PST The roar of Gazan rockets and the rumble of Israel's missile-defense system have been silenced by a cease-fire that has held up better than expected but which neither side considers a permanent solution.

Fight over snack in China lights up blogosphere Posted: 04 Dec 2012 05:47 AM PST A banal dispute over the price of a snack on an anonymous street in central China has triggered a fireball of angry comment in the Chinese blogosphere, revealing deep and widespread resentment at the way Beijing treats ethnic minorities under its rule.

Did Iran just down a US drone by 'spoofing'? Posted: 04 Dec 2012 05:27 AM PST • A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

Boy or girl, Kate's royal offspring likely to reign - eventually Posted: 03 Dec 2012 03:36 PM PST Today's announcement that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge – also known as Prince William and Princess Kate – are expecting a baby was met with a right royal hue and cry by the British press.

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