2012年12月25日星期二

Yahoo! News: World News

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Yahoo! News: World News

Egypt approves constitution drafted by Mursi allies

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 03:14 PM PST

A woman with her ID arrives at a polling station to vote during the final stage of a referendum on Egypt's new constitution in Bani SweifCAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian voters overwhelmingly approved a constitution drafted by President Mohamed Mursi's allies, results announced on Tuesday showed, proving that liberals, leftists and Christians have been powerless to halt the march of Islamists in power. Final elections commission figures showed the constitution adopted with 63.8 percent of the vote in the referendum held over two days this month, giving Mursi's Islamists their third straight electoral victory since veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a 2011 revolution. ...

Syria envoy seeks peace as clashes rage

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 07:19 AM PST

A woman carries bread in AleppoBEIRUT (Reuters) - International envoy Lakhdar Brahimi pursued mediation efforts in Damascus on Tuesday, but there was no pause in the bloodletting as Syrian Christians marked a bleak Christmas Day with prayers for peace. "We are here in a cave that symbolizes Syria right now," said a priest standing beside a nativity scene in a grotto. "It is cold here but the door is open to all refugees," he told Syrian state TV. "Amid the hunger, cold and deprivation, we still have hope for peace and love for our country. ...

Central African Republic rebels seize central town, defying foreign troops

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 02:29 PM PST

BANGUI (Reuters) - Rebels in Central African Republic seized the central town of Kaga Bandoro on Tuesday despite the presence of foreign troops meant to support the government, a government official said. The fall of the town, 333 km (207 miles) north of the capital Bangui, came hours after the Seleka rebel alliance said they would suspend their push and means they now have a firm grip on the north and east of the fragile nation. ...

U.S. moves to sell advanced spy drones to South Korea

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 11:54 AM PST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration formally proposed a controversial sale of advanced spy drones to help South Korea bear more of its defense from any attack by the heavily armed North. Seoul has requested a possible $1.2 billion sale of four Northrop Grumman Corp RQ-4 "Global Hawk" remotely piloted aircraft with enhanced surveillance capabilities, the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement dated on Monday and distributed on Tuesday. South Korea needs such systems to assume top responsibility for intelligence-gathering from the U.S. ...

Gulf Arabs decry Iran "interference" in region

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 07:39 AM PST

Dignitaries pose for a group photo prior to the start of the GCC Summit at Sakhir Palace in Sakhir south of ManamaMANAMA (Reuters) - Six U.S.-allied Gulf Arab states demanded on Tuesday that Iran end what they called interference in the region, reiterating a long-held mistrust of their main rival. The Islamic Republic denies trying to subvert Saudi Arabia and its wealthy Gulf neighbors. A communique issued at the end of a two-day summit of the Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) also urged action to halt mass killings and violations of international law in Syria. ...

Gunmen kill six in northeast Nigeria church attack

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 09:51 AM PST

KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen killed six people at a church in northeast Nigeria early on Tuesday, the third year running that Christmas services have come under deadly attack in the country, the military said. The strike took place after a Christmas Eve midnight service outside the town of Potiskum in northeastern Yobe state, where Islamist sect Boko Haram has carried out several attacks this year. "Unknown gunmen attempted to attack Potiskum but were repelled by the troops. ...

Pope gives advice as Italians prepare for bitter campaign

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 08:04 AM PST

Pope Benedict XVI waves as he blessed the crowd as he makes his "Urbi et Orbi" address from a balcony in St. Peter's Square in VaticanROME (Reuters) - Pope Benedict sent a political Christmas greeting to Italians on Tuesday as they head into an election campaign expected to be brutal and bitter: think, cooperate for the common good and don't discard values when making big choices. The pope, in his Christmas greetings in 65 languages, said in his special message to Italians that he hoped the spirit of the day would "make people reflect, favor the spirit of cooperation for the common good and lead to a reflection on the hierarchy of values when making the most important of choices". ...

Eight killed in Yemen clashes; attacks in capital target officers

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 08:47 AM PST

SANAA (Reuters) - At least six militants and two soldiers were killed in Yemen on Tuesday in fighting near a damaged oil pipeline east of the capital Sanaa, a defense ministry official and residents said. Separately, gunmen and bombers targeted three senior military officers and the transport minister in a series of attacks in the capital Sanaa. In one incident, two gunmen riding a motorbike shot dead Brigadier Fadel Mohammed Ali, an adviser to the minister of defense, outside the ministry's offices in Sanaa, a police source said. Further details were not immediately available. ...

Kazakh military plane crashes, all 27 on board killed

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 04:37 PM PST

Still image from video shows the remains of an Antonov An-72 military transport plane after it crashed near ShymkentALMATY (Reuters) - A military transport plane crashed in southern Kazakhstan on Tuesday, killing all 27 people on board, including the commander of the Central Asian nation's border guards, local media and the KNB security service said. The twin-engine Antonov An-72 jet disappeared from radar screens at about 1900 local time (1300 GMT) as it was making a descent near the city of Shymkent, the capital of the South Kazakhstan Region. Kazakhstan's Channel 7 television showed early footage of charred and mangled fragments of the airplane scattered around a cordoned off area in a raging blizzard. ...

Afghans seek policewoman's motive for killing U.S. contractor

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 06:32 AM PST

U.S. security personnel escorts a U.S. convoy to Kabul police headquarters in KabulKABUL (Reuters) - An Iranian-Afghan policewoman who killed a U.S. contractor at the police headquarters in Kabul may have been motivated by a personal grudge, said security officials, who were also probing possible Taliban or al Qaeda involvement. The officials said the woman named as Narges seemed wracked with remorse over the shooting. They said she held an Iranian passport but offered no evidence that Iran may have orchestrated the attack. She arrived at police headquarters on Monday morning and headed to a bathroom where she loaded a pistol and hid it under her long scarf, they said. ...

Syrian rebels make more gains in north

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 12:01 PM PST

This Sunday, Dec. 23, 2012 image taken from video obtained from the Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows Free Syrian Army fighters running towards the scene after a government airstrike hit Hama Suburb of Halfaya, Syria. A government airstrike Sunday on a bakery in a rebel-held town in central Syria killed tens of people, which left scattered bodies and debris up and down a street, and more than a dozen wounded were trapped in tangled heap of dirt and rubble, activists said. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video)BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian rebels fully captured a northern town near the Turkish border on Tuesday after weeks of heavy fighting and attacked a regime air base in a neighboring province, activists said.

Egypt constitution passes, economic crunch looms

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 02:27 PM PST

CAIRO (AP) — The official approval of Egypt's disputed, Islamist-backed constitution Tuesday held out little hope of stabilizing the country after two years of turmoil and Islamist President Mohammed Morsi may now face a more immediate crisis with the economy falling deeper into distress.

Pope's Christmas message focuses on Mideast, China

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 11:53 AM PST

Pope Benedict XVI delivers his "Urbi et Orbi" (to the City and to the World) speech from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2012. Pope Benedict XVI has wished Christmas peace to the world, decrying the slaughter of the "defenseless" in Syria and urging Israelis and Palestinians to find the courage to negotiate. Delivering the Vatican's traditional Christmas day message from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, a weary-looking and hoarse-sounding Benedict on Tuesday also encouraged Arab spring nations, especially Egypt, to build just and respectful societies. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)VATICAN CITY (AP) — In his Christmas message to the world Tuesday, Pope Benedict XVI called for an end to the slaughter in Syria and for more meaningful negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, while encouraging more religious freedom under China's new leaders.

Kazakhstan military plane crashes, killing 27

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 08:32 AM PST

MOSCOW (AP) — Kazakhstan's acting border service chief was among 27 people killed in a military plane crash Tuesday near a southern city, another blow to the agency after he was appointed in June to deal with the aftermath of a mass killing involving a conscript.

SAfrica: Children attend Mandela's Christmas party

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 08:13 AM PST

FILE This May 16, 2011 file photo supplied by the South African Government Communications and Information Services, GCIS, shows former South African President Nelson Mandela and his wife Graca Machel after they cast an early ballot in upcoming local elections at his home in Johannesburg, South Africa. South Africa's president has visited former leader Nelson Mandela in a hospital, and the presidency says Mandela continues to respond to treatment. The office of President Jacob Zuma says he saw Mandela on Saturday, Dec. 22, 2012, in Pretoria, the capital, and assured the anti-apartheid icon that he has the support of all South Africans and the world. Mandela, who is 94, has been hospitalized since Dec. 8. He was diagnosed with a lung infection and also had gallstone surgery. (AP Photo/Elmond Jiyane-GCIS, File)MVEZO, South Africa (AP) — A couple of decades ago, Nelson Mandela grew withdrawn while feasting with his family on Christmas Day in the part of rural South Africa where the anti-apartheid leader lived as a child. Alarmed by the patriarch's silence, some relatives looked at him and asked if anything was wrong.

Queen delivers 1st Christmas message in 3D

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 07:46 AM PST

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II receives flowers from children after attending the British royal family's traditional Christmas Day church service in Sandringham, England, Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II has hailed the holidays in a new dimension, delivering her Christmas message for the first time in 3D.

VP says Chavez up, walking; doubts persist

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 01:48 PM PST

FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012 file photo, a member of Venezuela's navy touches an image of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez after a mass in support of him in Havana, Cuba. Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro said late Monday, Dec. 24, 2012 night that he had spoken by telephone with Chavez and that the leader is up and walking following cancer surgery in Cuba. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Vice President Nicolas Maduro surprised Venezuelans with a Christmas Eve announcement that President Hugo Chavez is up and walking two weeks after cancer surgery in Cuba, but the news did little to ease uncertainty surrounding the leader's condition.

Israel revisits ban on female prayer at holy site

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 11:48 AM PST

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's prime minister has instructed a quasi-governmental Jewish organization to find a solution for non-Orthodox Jewish female groups wishing to pray at one of Judaism's holiest sites.

In Egypt Islamists' bastion, discontent creeps up

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 10:32 AM PST

In this Saturday, Dec. 22, 2012 photo, Mohsen Moufreh, a 42-year farmer, sits in his farm during the second round of a referendum on a disputed constitution drafted by Islamist supporters of President Mohammed Morsi in Fayoum, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Cairo, Egypt. When election-time rolls around, this impoverished rural province has proven one of Egypt's most die-hard bastions of support for Islamists, handing them lopsided victories. The referendum that approved Egypt's Islamist-backed constitution was no exception, with nearly 90 percent of voters here supporting the charter. But even here, voices of discontent with the Muslim Brotherhood are emerging, something the liberal and secular opposition is hoping to build on in upcoming parliament elections.(AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)FAYOUM, Egypt (AP) — When election-time rolls around, this impoverished province of farmlands south of Cairo has proven one of the most die-hard bastions of support for Islamists in Egypt, producing lopsided victories for the Muslim Brotherhood and its ultraconservative allies.

Mexico bishop inspires, infuriates with activism

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 10:25 AM PST

FILE - This Dec. 22, 1999 file photo shows Bishop Raul Vera in San Cristobal de las Casas in the Mexican state of Chiapas. Vera arrived in Saltillo as Bishop in 2000, with a reputation as a social crusader. Vera's realm is a wide swath of Coahuila, a state bordering Texas that's become a hideout for the brutal Zetas cartel. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)MONCLOVA, Mexico (AP) — The white-haired bishop stepped before some 7,000 faithful gathered in a baseball stadium in this violence-plagued northern border state. He led the gathering through the rituals of his Mass, reciting prayers echoed back by the massive crowd. And then his voice rose.

Doing the Lindy for fun and exercise in Moscow

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 05:00 AM PST

As teenagers during the Soviet era, Sergey and Lyudmila Gubarev used to copy American-inspired songs onto cassette tapes that then made the rounds among their friends. The music on the tapes, spanning from the 1940s onward, offered them a peek through the Iron Curtain that closed off Western cultural imports.

发贴者：iwvck10 时间 17:23 0 条评论

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