Yahoo! News: World News

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• NATO says Syrian Scuds hit "near" Turkey
• Russia retaliates against U.S. rights legislation
• Hamas subdued despite Gaza victory claim-Israeli military
• U.N. agency sees deal soon to check Iran nuclear work
• Venezuela furious at Obama's comments on ailing Chavez
• Defiant leader of Cayman Islands under pressure to resign
• Italy's left says Monti run "morally questionable"
• UFO hacker won't be tried in Britain for U.S. crimes
• Israeli foreign minister quits after indictment
• Egypt faces divisive choice over political future
• As Syrian rebels close in, Assad has cards to play
• Lieberman pre-election exit roils Israeli politics
• Flailing Honduras in yet another political crisis
• Tempers rise ahead of vote on Egypt charter
• NKorea rocket launch shows young leader as gambler
• Russia backtracks on statement about Assad's fall
• Christmas comes to Vatican with tree lighting
• Israel's Women of the Wall pray for equality
• Obama signs Russian trade and human rights bill
• Some Venezuelans see 'Chavismo' struggles brewing
• Syrian opposition forces say they are on brink of major victory in Aleppo
• Good Reads: Mexico’s rise, Lincoln’s precedence, and tomorrow’s truth
• West Bank welcomes Hamas back with excitement - and apprehension
• With Chávez's health uncertain, Venezuela regional elections will test opposition
• Good Reads: American manufacturing, Apple's new CEO, and a father-son journey to meet two presidents
• Russia insists it stands by Syria's Assad, despite earlier comments
• Entrepreneur Joe Edwards helps make St. Louis vibrant again

NATO says Syrian Scuds hit "near" Turkey Posted: 14 Dec 2012 03:26 PM PST BEIRUT (Reuters) - NATO accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces of firing Scud missiles that landed near to the Turkish border, in explaining why it was sending anti-missile batteries and troops to the bloc's frontier. The Syrian government, which finds itself under attack from rebels in the capital Damascus and by a diplomatic alliance of Arab and Western powers, denies firing such long-range, Soviet-built rockets and had no immediate comment on the latest charge. ...

Russia retaliates against U.S. rights legislation Posted: 14 Dec 2012 10:58 AM PST MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia moved closer on Friday to adopting a law barring entry to Americans who violate human rights, the same day U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law a rights-linked trade bill Moscow finds objectionable. The tit-for-tat response came in a near-unanimous vote in the State Duma - the first of three votes before the bill goes to the upper house - hours before Obama signed the U.S. legislation into law. The U.S. legislation is known as the Magnitsky Act after Sergei Magnitsky, an anti-corruption lawyer whose death in a Moscow jail in 2009 caused an international outcry. ...

Hamas subdued despite Gaza victory claim-Israeli military Posted: 14 Dec 2012 02:36 AM PST JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's offensive on Gaza has deterred Hamas from new hostilities despite its claims of victory and the front is now at its quietest in 20 years, a senior Israeli military officer said. Vastly lopsided shelling exchanges over eight days killed 170 Palestinians and 6 Israelis before the November 21 truce brokered by Egypt. The Islamist militant group Hamas, which for the first time managed to fire rockets towards Tel Aviv and Jerusalem during the conflict, says it won in the absence of an Israeli ground invasion that might have toppled its Gaza administration. ...

U.N. agency sees deal soon to check Iran nuclear work Posted: 14 Dec 2012 12:07 PM PST VIENNA (Reuters) - The United Nations nuclear agency expects to reach a deal with Iran next month enabling it to investigate whether the Islamic state has carried out atomic bomb research, the chief U.N. inspector said after returning from Tehran on Friday. Even though the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) failed to gain requested access to the Parchin military complex during Thursday's visit to the Iranian capital, IAEA delegation head Herman Nackaerts said progress had been made. "We had good meetings," Nackaerts, deputy director general of the U.N. ...

Venezuela furious at Obama's comments on ailing Chavez Posted: 14 Dec 2012 04:29 PM PST CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's government reacted with fury on Friday to U.S. President Barack Obama's criticism of ailing Hugo Chavez's "authoritarian" government at a time of national anxiety over his battle to recover from cancer surgery. In an interview with U.S. network Univision, Obama declined to speculate on the 58-year-old socialist president's health in Cuba, where he is in a delicate state after his fourth operation since mid-2011 for cancer in his pelvic region. But he did say U.S. policy was aimed at ensuring "freedom" in Venezuela. ...

Defiant leader of Cayman Islands under pressure to resign Posted: 14 Dec 2012 03:02 PM PST GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands (Reuters) - Embattled Cayman Islands Premier McKeeva Bush faced growing pressure to resign on Friday after his arrest on suspicion of theft and corruption in the offshore Caribbean financial center. A defiant Bush, who has blamed his troubles on the governor of the British overseas territory, has said since his detention that he did nothing wrong and has no plans to step down. ...

Italy's left says Monti run "morally questionable" Posted: 14 Dec 2012 02:15 PM PST ROME (Reuters) - Italy's main center-left party, leading polls for next year's election, criticized calls for Prime Minister Mario Monti to run for a second term, a move one of the party's leading figures said would be "morally questionable". The Democratic Party (PD) has supported Monti's technocrat government in parliament. But, while it has pledged to continue his fiscal discipline and wants him to stay on in some role after the election, it says he should stay out of the campaign, which polls suggest he would lose anyway. ...

UFO hacker won't be tried in Britain for U.S. crimes Posted: 14 Dec 2012 10:25 AM PST LONDON (Reuters) - A British hacker whose extradition to face charges of accessing nearly 100 U.S. government computers in a quest for UFOs was halted on grounds he might harm himself will not be tried in Britain, the prosecution office said on Friday. Gary McKinnon, 46, who suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, has admitted hacking into Pentagon and NASA computers under the pseudonym "Solo", saying he was looking for evidence of flying saucers and other extraterrestrial activity. ...

Israeli foreign minister quits after indictment Posted: 14 Dec 2012 09:13 AM PST JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman resigned on Friday after being charged with fraud and breach of trust, a move that could impact on January's election which his party, merged with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud, was tipped to win. Israel's Justice Ministry said on Thursday it would charge Lieberman over alleged irregularities tied to the promotion of an Israeli diplomat who had leaked him privileged information about a police probe into his activities. ...

Egypt faces divisive choice over political future Posted: 14 Dec 2012 02:39 PM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptians decide on Saturday on a constitution promoted by its Islamist backers as the way out of a prolonged political crisis and rejected by opponents as a recipe for further divisions in the Arab world's biggest nation. Voting begins in a referendum on a divisive draft basic law that has pitted Islamist supporters of President Mohamed Mursi against a liberal, secular and Christian opposition in often bloody clashes in Cairo and other cities. The opposition says the constitution is too Islamist and tramples on minority rights. ...

As Syrian rebels close in, Assad has cards to play Posted: 14 Dec 2012 12:00 PM PST With rebels trying to penetrate Syria's capital, Damascus, President Bashar Assad may appear to be heading for a last stand as his weakened regime crumbles around him.

Lieberman pre-election exit roils Israeli politics Posted: 14 Dec 2012 12:35 PM PST The resignation of powerful Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Benjamin Netanyahu's top Cabinet partner, has shaken up Israeli politics a month before elections. Analysts say Netanyahu is likely to survive, but is losing a valued ally.

Flailing Honduras in yet another political crisis Posted: 14 Dec 2012 10:17 AM PST Members of the ruling party met behind closed doors, bartering all night for votes to depose four Supreme Court justices who had rejected the president's plan to weed out corrupt police. Ominously, soldiers and police surrounded the National Congress.

Tempers rise ahead of vote on Egypt charter Posted: 14 Dec 2012 01:46 PM PST Waving swords and clubs, Islamist supporters of Egypt's draft constitution clashed with opponents in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria on Friday as tempers flared on the eve of the referendum on the disputed charter — the country's worst political crisis since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak.

NKorea rocket launch shows young leader as gambler Posted: 14 Dec 2012 08:01 AM PST A triumphant North Korea staged a mass rally of soldiers and civilians Friday to glorify the country's young ruler, who took a big gamble this week in sending a satellite into orbit in defiance of international warnings.

Russia backtracks on statement about Assad's fall Posted: 14 Dec 2012 10:23 AM PST Russia's attempt to backpedal after a top diplomat said Syrian President Bashar Assad is losing control of his country reflects the dilemma Moscow faces as opposition fighters gain ground.

Christmas comes to Vatican with tree lighting Posted: 14 Dec 2012 09:20 AM PST The Christmas season kicked off Friday at the Vatican with the traditional lighting of the tree in St. Peter's Square — and a reminder from the pope about what happened when the "lights" of God were turned off in past atheistic regimes.

Israel's Women of the Wall pray for equality Posted: 14 Dec 2012 10:01 AM PST Israeli security guards at the Western Wall on Friday searched women worshippers arriving at the holiest place where Jews can pray for a seemingly inoffensive object — the Jewish prayer shawl, which under the Orthodox tradition can be worn only by men.

Obama signs Russian trade and human rights bill Posted: 14 Dec 2012 11:08 AM PST President Barack Obama has signed a bill that will expand trade with Russia but could antagonize relations with Moscow over its treatment of dissidents.

Some Venezuelans see 'Chavismo' struggles brewing Posted: 14 Dec 2012 04:39 PM PST Hugo Chavez's most influential allies are projecting an image of unity while the president recovers from cancer surgery in Cuba, standing side-by-side and pledging to uphold his socialist movement no matter what happens.

Syrian opposition forces say they are on brink of major victory in Aleppo Posted: 14 Dec 2012 11:06 AM PST After months of fighting in Aleppo, opposition forces say they are on the verge of claiming complete control over an area in northern Syria.

Good Reads: Mexico’s rise, Lincoln’s precedence, and tomorrow’s truth Posted: 14 Dec 2012 10:57 AM PST Which country produces the biggest share of America's flat-screen TVs? You know it can't be China, or we wouldn't bother asking.

West Bank welcomes Hamas back with excitement - and apprehension Posted: 14 Dec 2012 10:04 AM PST Hamas, long suppressed in the West Bank because of its feud with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, staged comeback parties in several cities here over the last two days in celebration of its 25th anniversary and victory in last month's Gaza war.

With Chávez's health uncertain, Venezuela regional elections will test opposition Posted: 14 Dec 2012 09:44 AM PST After Henrique Capriles Radonski lost the Venezuelan presidential election to incumbent Hugo Chávez in October, Venezuela's opposition was left reeling. But the party tried to look ahead.

Good Reads: American manufacturing, Apple's new CEO, and a father-son journey to meet two presidents Posted: 14 Dec 2012 08:54 AM PST Manufacturing growth

Russia insists it stands by Syria's Assad, despite earlier comments Posted: 14 Dec 2012 05:49 AM PST Russia today denied that it had changed its policy towards the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a day after a high-ranking Russian official admitted publicly for the first time that the Syrian government may fall.

Entrepreneur Joe Edwards helps make St. Louis vibrant again Posted: 14 Dec 2012 05:00 AM PST Every once in a rare while comes a chance to meet American royalty. If you are in Massachusetts, you might encounter a Kennedy. In New York it could be a Rockefeller. But in St. Louis it would have to be Joe Edwards.

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