Yahoo! News: World News

Tunisian government dissolved after critic's killing causes fury
Syrian rebels fight close to heart of Damascus
French battle Mali Islamists as Tuareg problem looms
Islamic summit opens with calls for Syrian dialogue
U.S. sanctions Iranian broadcasters, locks up oil revenues
Irish PM called on to apologize for Magdalene Laundries
Iran's Ahmadinejad seeks strategic axis with Egypt
Serbian and Kosovo hold rare talks in Brussels
Bulgarian opposition questions blaming of Hezbollah for bomb
Canada eyes revoking citizenship of dual nationals tied to terror
Acapulco rape case overshadows peak tourist season
Woman in Timbuktu punished for forbidden love
Tunisia to shake-up government after assassination
Tough times for Hezbollah in fast changing region
6 dead, villages destroyed in Solomons tsunami
Vatican sex crimes prosecutor seeks transparency
Heavy clashes frighten residents in Syria capital
Egypt opposition leader warns over death edict
Yemen: Seized Iranian ship carried varied weapons
Bones of contention: Cities fight over Richard III
In Ontario, abuse of 'hillbilly heroin' being replaced by real thing
Tunisia's double blow: political assassination, government dissolution
So, this is the office that will investigate Afghanistan's Kam Air?
'Tokyo Explosion' fireworks? Fighting words this Chinese New Year
Campaign against female genital mutilation gaining ground support, results
France: Mali withdrawal is in sight

Tunisian government dissolved after critic's killing causes fury

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 04:39 PM PST

TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's ruling Islamists dissolved the government and promised rapid elections in a bid to restore calm after the killing of an opposition leader sparked the biggest street protests since the revolution two years ago. ...

Syrian rebels fight close to heart of Damascus

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 02:41 PM PST

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebels battled President Bashar al-Assad's forces on the edge of central Damascus on Wednesday, opposition activists said, seeking to break through to the heart of the capital. Their offensive aims to break a stalemate in the city of 2 million people, where artillery and air strikes have prevented rebels entrenched to the east from advancing despite their capture of army fortifications, the activists said. "We have moved the battle to Jobar," said Captain Islam Alloush of the rebel Islam Brigade. ...

French battle Mali Islamists as Tuareg problem looms

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 11:45 AM PST

KIDAL, Mali (Reuters) - French and Malian troops are fighting Islamist rebels in the Sahara outside northern Mali's biggest town, France's defense minister said on Wednesday, describing the desert campaign against al Qaeda as a "real war" that was far from won. After driving the Islamists from northern Mali's main towns with three weeks of air strikes and a lightning ground advance, France is now pursuing them in the remote northeast, where pro-autonomy Tuaregs are pressing their own territorial claims. ...

Islamic summit opens with calls for Syrian dialogue

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 03:24 PM PST

CAIRO (Reuters) - Leaders of Muslim nations called for a negotiated end to Syria's civil war at a summit in Cairo on Wednesday, thrusting Egypt's new Islamist president to center stage amid turbulence at home. On the summit sidelines, the leaders of Egypt, Turkey and Iran gathered for talks on the Syria crisis. The Iranian foreign minister came out of the meeting expressing optimism about the prospects for a resolution. ...

U.S. sanctions Iranian broadcasters, locks up oil revenues

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 02:22 PM PST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Wednesday it had sanctioned Iran's main agency in charge of broadcasting for helping the government censor Western reports, part of a broader effort by Washington to pressure Tehran's nuclear program. The Treasury Department also said sanctions that shackle Iran's oil earnings took effect, as scheduled, on Wednesday. Iran's earnings now have to be credited to accounts in countries that buy Iranian crude. ...

Irish PM called on to apologize for Magdalene Laundries

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 01:57 PM PST

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny was criticized by his government's junior coalition partner on Wednesday for not issuing the state apology sought by ex-inmates of the notorious Magdalene Laundries following a damning report. More than a quarter of the women and girls subjected to harsh discipline and unpaid work at the 10 laundries, run by Catholic nuns, were sent there by the Irish state, an official report that ran to almost 1,000 pages said on Tuesday. ...

Iran's Ahmadinejad seeks strategic axis with Egypt

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 03:39 PM PST

CAIRO (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on the first visit to Cairo by an Iranian leader in more than three decades, called for a strategic alliance with Egypt and said he had offered the cash-strapped Arab state a loan. In a step by Iran to advance ties that were broken in 1979, the Iranian foreign minister said Egyptian tourists and merchants would no longer require visas to visit, Egypt's state news agency reported. The effort drew a cool response, however. Shi'ite Islamist Iran is still looked on with suspicion by many in Egypt, a predominantly Sunni Muslim nation. ...

Serbian and Kosovo hold rare talks in Brussels

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 03:14 PM PST

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The presidents of Serbia and Kosovo pledged in Brussels on Wednesday to work towards mending their strained relations after holding the highest-level meeting since the former Serbian province seceded in 2008. European Union foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton, who has mediated between Belgrade and Pristina, held the brief talks with Serbia's Tomislav Nikolic, once an advocate of the Greater Serbia policy that fomented the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s, and Atifete Jahjaga of majority-Albanian Kosovo. ...

Bulgarian opposition questions blaming of Hezbollah for bomb

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 03:04 PM PST

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's opposition criticized a government statement that Hezbollah carried out a bomb attack that killed Israeli tourists, saying on Wednesday the conclusion was unjustified and dangerous. The July attack in the coastal city of Burgas raised tensions in the Balkan country, where 15 percent of the 7.3 million population are Muslim, and opposition parties said the government acted under Israeli and U.S. pressure. ...

Canada eyes revoking citizenship of dual nationals tied to terror

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 03:01 PM PST

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Canadian government is eyeing legislation that would let it revoke the citizenship of dual nationals involved in acts of terrorism following news that a Canadian-Lebanese man participated in an attack that killed Israeli tourists in Bulgaria last year. The Conservative government said on Tuesday that a Canadian dual national was one of three people who attacked a tourist bus in Bulgaria last summer, killing five Israelis. Canada is investigating a separate charge by Algeria that a Canadian coordinated last month's attack on a gas plant there. ...

Acapulco rape case overshadows peak tourist season

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 04:15 PM PST

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — The tourism world turned its eyes on Mexico after six Spanish women were raped by masked gunmen during a vacation in the long-troubled Pacific coast resort of Acapulco.

Woman in Timbuktu punished for forbidden love

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 11:47 AM PST

TIMBUKTU, Mali (AP) — The love story in this fabled desert outpost began over the phone, when he dialed the wrong number. It nearly ended with the couple's death at the hands of Islamic extremists who considered their romance "haram" — forbidden.

Tunisia to shake-up government after assassination

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 02:52 PM PST

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Shaken by the assassination of a prominent leftist opposition leader that unleashed major protests, Tunisia's prime minister announced Wednesday that he would form a new government of technocrats to guide the country to elections "as soon as possible."

Tough times for Hezbollah in fast changing region

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 12:17 PM PST

BEIRUT (AP) — These are tough times for Hezbollah. The Shiite militant group's uncompromising support for Syrian President Bashar Assad and allegations that it attacked Israeli tourists in Bulgaria are both unpopular in Lebanon, where it is increasingly accused of putting the interests of longtime patrons Iran and Syria over those of its home country.

6 dead, villages destroyed in Solomons tsunami

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 04:30 PM PST

SYDNEY (AP) — Six bodies, including a child's, have been found in the sodden wreckage left by a tsunami that smashed into villages in the Solomon Islands, flattening dozens of homes in the South Pacific island chain.

Vatican sex crimes prosecutor seeks transparency

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 08:02 AM PST

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican's new sex crimes prosecutor has insisted on the need for transparency about the church's failures to protect children from sex abuse by priests.

Heavy clashes frighten residents in Syria capital

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 11:00 AM PST

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian rebels and regime forces fought their most intense clashes in weeks inside the heavily guarded capital of Damascus on Wednesday, activists said, with the sounds of shell blasts echoing through the downtown area and keeping many children home from school while residents hid in their houses.

Egypt opposition leader warns over death edict

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 01:18 PM PST

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's most prominent opposition leader criticized the Islamist government on Wednesday for its silence over a Muslim cleric's edict calling for the death of opposition supporters.

Yemen: Seized Iranian ship carried varied weapons

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 01:03 PM PST

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A ship seized by Yemeni authorities last month carried a wide variety of Iranian-made weapons, Yemen's Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

Bones of contention: Cities fight over Richard III

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 07:23 AM PST

LONDON (AP) — The discovery of King Richard III under a parking lot in the English city of Leicester thrilled history buffs around the world. But the news meant a winter of discontent for the rival city of York, and now the two are doing battle over the royal bones.

In Ontario, abuse of 'hillbilly heroin' being replaced by real thing

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 12:44 PM PST

Front-line drug-treatment workers and law enforcement officials in Ontario have been waiting for the other shoe to drop for nearly a year.

Tunisia's double blow: political assassination, government dissolution

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 12:39 PM PST

Tunisia has weathered riots, political squabbling, and economic crisis since protests toppled its former dictator two years ago, kickstarting the Arab uprisings. Today, this fledgling democracy suffered a new blow: its first murder of a political leader, which prompted the prime minister to dissolve his government.

So, this is the office that will investigate Afghanistan's Kam Air?

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 10:47 AM PST

Yesterday, I wrote about Afghan airline Kam Air, which was removed from a US military contracting blacklist for alleged involvement in drug smuggling after complaints from the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai.

'Tokyo Explosion' fireworks? Fighting words this Chinese New Year

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 06:46 AM PST

Nothing defines Chinese New Year like fireworks. On the stroke of midnight, Beijing erupts in a riotous, deafening barrage of explosions that out-bangs any war zone.

Campaign against female genital mutilation gaining ground support, results

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 06:18 AM PST

In many parts of the Kween District of eastern Uganda, women are divided into two distinct categories.

France: Mali withdrawal is in sight

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 05:41 AM PST

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