Yahoo! News: World News

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• Ecuador's Correa cruises to re-election victory
• Israeli lawmakers to investigate Australian spy mystery
• Pope, near abdication, says pray "for me and next pope"
• Pakistan faces growing anger over sectarian bombings
• Cypriot candidates woo kingmaker for election run-off
• French, Malian troops secure rebel strongpoint near Gao
• Egypt pound will not collapse: presidential aide
• British PM Cameron on India trade trip amid graft scandal
• Libyans put aside woes to celebrate uneasy anniversary
• Hezbollah fighter, five Syrian rebels killed on border
• Official results: Correa winning Ecuador election
• Pope blesses huge crowd in St. Peter's Square
• Agent cancels all future races for Pistorius
• UN envoy backs Syrian opposition's call for talks
• Iran's leader steps deeper into the political fray
• Libya's struggle to deliver justice fuels violence
• Series of bombings in Baghdad area kill dozens
• Runoff called in Cyprus' presidential election
• Report: Assange sees legal defense in politics
• Police: 7 foreigners kidnapped in north Nigeria
• Pakistan anger grows after sectarian terrorist attack kills 81
• Modern migrants pose new challenges to Mexican border towns
• Taking a hike in the Holy Land on the Jesus Trail

Ecuador's Correa cruises to re-election victory Posted: 17 Feb 2013 05:01 PM PST QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa swept to a re-election victory on Sunday that allows him to strengthen state control over the OPEC nation's economy and gives a timely boost to Latin America's alliance of socialist leaders. Correa won 58 percent of the votes compared with 24 percent for runner-up Guillermo Lasso, according to preliminary results released by the electoral authority based on almost 30 percent of the votes counted. "Nobody can stop this revolution," a jubilant Correa told supporters from the balcony of the presidential palace, after claiming victory. ...

Israeli lawmakers to investigate Australian spy mystery Posted: 17 Feb 2013 04:47 PM PST JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli lawmakers announced plans on Sunday to investigate the 2010 jailhouse death of a reported Australian immigrant recruit to the Mossad spy agency. The statement by Parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee followed calls by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a cabinet meeting to dim a growing media spotlight on the affair he saw as at risk of jeopardizing national security. ...

Pope, near abdication, says pray "for me and next pope" Posted: 17 Feb 2013 09:58 AM PST VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict asked the faithful to pray for him and for the next pope, in his penultimate Sunday address to a crowded St. Peter's Square before becoming the first pontiff in centuries to resign. The crowd chanted "Long live the pope!," waved banners and broke into sustained applause as he spoke from his window. The 85-year-old Benedict, who will abdicate on February 28, thanked them in several languages. Speaking in Spanish, he told the crowd which the Vatican said numbered more than 50,000: "I beg you to continue praying for me and for the next pope". ...

Pakistan faces growing anger over sectarian bombings Posted: 17 Feb 2013 02:57 PM PST QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani Shi'ites called on the military on Sunday to take control of the city of Quetta after a bombing by Sunni militants killed 85 people, and threatened to stage a long march to the capital if their demands were not met. Pakistani leaders have done little to contain hardline Sunni Muslim groups which have stepped up a campaign of bombings and assassinations of minority Shi'ites in a bid to destabilize the nuclear-armed country and install a Sunni theocracy. ...

Cypriot candidates woo kingmaker for election run-off Posted: 17 Feb 2013 03:43 PM PST NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cypriot political leaders begin a week of bargaining on Monday after the first round of a presidential election failed to produce an outright winner to steer the island nation through its worst financial crisis in four decades. Conservative leader Nicos Anastasiades, who backs a swift deal with EU and IMF lenders on a bailout to avert a Cypriot bankruptcy, won Sunday's vote but fell short of the absolute majority needed to avoid a run-off on Feb 24. He faces Communist-backed Stavros Malas in that round. ...

French, Malian troops secure rebel strongpoint near Gao Posted: 17 Feb 2013 10:15 AM PST BAMAKO (Reuters) - French and Malian troops secured the north Mali town of Bourem on Sunday, tightening their control over areas where Islamist insurgents have been launching guerrilla attacks to harass the French-led military operation. "Bourem is a bastion of Islamists," said a military official from an African military contingent called AFISMA. African troops in this contingent are being deployed behind the French forward lines in the five-week-old intervention by Paris in its former Sahel colony. ...

Egypt pound will not collapse: presidential aide Posted: 17 Feb 2013 03:24 PM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - The Egyptian pound will not collapse and its incremental depreciation has stabilized, a senior aide to Islamist President Mohamed Mursi said on Sunday. Essam Haddad, Mursi's deputy chief of staff and foreign policy adviser, told Reuters in an interview that he did not expect the pound to fall further after it lost more than 8 percent against the dollar since the start of the year. "I think it has reached a level of stability," he said. "So as long as it (depreciation) is going incrementally and in a way that is market-sensitive, then there is no harm in this," Haddad said. ...

British PM Cameron on India trade trip amid graft scandal Posted: 17 Feb 2013 04:03 PM PST LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron arrives in India on Monday to try to win new investment in the face of fierce global competition as a scandal engulfs an Anglo-Italian helicopter deal. Making his second visit to India as prime minister, Cameron's trip comes days after a similar trade mission by French President Francois Hollande, underlining how Europe's debt-stricken states are competing to tap into one of the world's fastest-growing economies. ...

Libyans put aside woes to celebrate uneasy anniversary Posted: 17 Feb 2013 12:25 PM PST BENGHAZI/TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Thousands took to the streets on Sunday to celebrate two years since the start of Libya's revolution and a national political leader promised to end the sense of neglect experienced by Benghazi, the country's second city. One thousand km (620 miles) east of the capital Tripoli, Benghazi was the cradle of the revolt that ousted dictator Muammar Gaddafi, but many citizens feel that they are yet to see the fruits of their military struggle. ...

Hezbollah fighter, five Syrian rebels killed on border Posted: 17 Feb 2013 10:24 AM PST AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) - At least two Hezbollah guerrillas and five Syrian rebels have been killed in fighting in Syria on the border with Lebanon, Lebanese residents and Syrian opposition sources said on Sunday. The clash between Lebanese Shi'ite Hezbollah and Sunni Muslim rebels, in a religiously-mixed area southwest of the city of Homs, shows a growing role for Hezbollah in Syria's war, which is deepening the Middle East's sectarian divide. ...

Official results: Correa winning Ecuador election Posted: 17 Feb 2013 04:48 PM PST QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — First official results in Ecuador's presidential election show incumbent Rafael Correa leading with 56.6 percent of the vote against 24 percent for his closest challenger.

Pope blesses huge crowd in St. Peter's Square Posted: 17 Feb 2013 02:52 PM PST VATICAN CITY (AP) — His arms outstretched in a symbolic embrace, Pope Benedict XVI blessed tens of thousands of cheering people on Sunday in one of his last appearances as pontiff from his window overlooking St. Peter's Square.

Agent cancels all future races for Pistorius Posted: 17 Feb 2013 02:50 PM PST JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Oscar Pistorius' track career was put on hold indefinitely Sunday because of his murder charge, reinforcing the possibility that the double-amputee Olympian and disabled sports icon might never run again competitively on his famous carbon fiber blades.

UN envoy backs Syrian opposition's call for talks Posted: 17 Feb 2013 11:49 AM PST AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — A Syrian opposition leader's call for dialogue is a test for the intentions of President Bashar Assad, the international envoy to Syria said Sunday, as fighting raged between rebels and government forces in at least three Syrian provinces.

Iran's leader steps deeper into the political fray Posted: 17 Feb 2013 11:22 AM PST DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's supreme leader is supposed to be many things in the eyes of his followers: Spiritual mentor, protector of the Islamic Revolution, a moral compass above the regular fray.

Libya's struggle to deliver justice fuels violence Posted: 17 Feb 2013 02:10 PM PST BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — Col. Faraj el-Dersi, who defected to the rebel side from Moammar Gadhafi's police force, was gunned down late last year on the streets of Benghazi, and he bled to death in the arms of his teenage daughter.

Series of bombings in Baghdad area kill dozens Posted: 17 Feb 2013 02:59 PM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Car bombs tore through shopping areas within minutes of each other in mainly Shiite neighborhoods of the Iraqi capital on Sunday, killing at least 37 people and wounding more than 100.

Runoff called in Cyprus' presidential election Posted: 17 Feb 2013 01:35 PM PST NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus heads into a runoff presidential election next weekend, with voters called on to select who will lead the country through a severe financial crisis after no candidate won an outright majority in Sunday's vote.

Report: Assange sees legal defense in politics Posted: 17 Feb 2013 05:05 PM PST CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange regards his bid to become an Australian senator as a defense against potential criminal prosecution in the United States and Britain, a news website reported on Monday.

Police: 7 foreigners kidnapped in north Nigeria Posted: 17 Feb 2013 11:50 AM PST BAUCHI, Nigeria (AP) — Gunmen attacked a camp for a construction company in rural northern Nigeria, killing a guard and kidnapping seven foreign workers from Britain, Greece, Italy, Lebanon and the Philippines, authorities said Sunday, in the biggest kidnapping yet in a region under attack by Islamic extremists.

Pakistan anger grows after sectarian terrorist attack kills 81 Posted: 17 Feb 2013 08:14 AM PST Pakistan's unpopular government, which is gearing up for elections expected within months, faced growing anger on Sunday for failing to deliver stability after a sectarian bombing in the city of Quetta killed 81 people.

Modern migrants pose new challenges to Mexican border towns Posted: 17 Feb 2013 07:00 AM PST A forlorn Graciela Severiano sits silently at a church soup kitchen, surrounded by recently returned migrants, each cast adrift in this sprawling town on the US-Mexico border.

Taking a hike in the Holy Land on the Jesus Trail Posted: 17 Feb 2013 06:00 AM PST For Christian pilgrims in hiking boots, Israel's 36-mile Jesus Trail offers glimpses of the kind of biblical scenery the master Christian may have seen as he made the rounds in verdant Galilee.

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