Yahoo! News: World News

U.S. tells North Korea new missile launch would be "huge mistake"
Venezuela says it foiled plot to destabilize presidential vote
Magnitsky fallout may harm missile progress as U.S. talks to Putin
Europe's center left defends welfare amid austerity
Strong earthquake hits western Japan, no tsunami warning
Israel fires into Syria after Golan troops come under fire
Three Chadian soldiers killed in Mali suicide bombing
Hungary promises changes after EU threat in amendment row
Neo-Nazi trial forces Germany to confront painful truths
Turkey has new law on asylum, but sets limits for non-Europeans
Kerry tamps down anxiety over NKorea missile power
Despite tensions, NKorea readies for festivities
As protesters jeer, Hopi masks sell in Paris
Hague war crimes court investigating own staffer
Syrian troops widen offensive in border areas
BBC in hot seat as anti-Thatcher song climbs chart
Canada police reopen investigation of alleged rape
In UK, aristocrats still face 'Downton' dilemma
Tears flow as 13 Serbian shooting victims buried
The well-greased vote machine Chavez left
Why Indonesia's farmers have begun to guard their crops like gold
Will Bashir's visit help close the divide between the Sudans?
Egypt's Copts lash out at government's anti-Christian rhetoric
Europe indicates it's sticking with austerity. But is that working?
Deadly Taliban attack targets elite unit in Afghanistan
Hebrew lives on in Hamas-run Gaza
Kim Jong-un's goal? Status as the unequivocal god-king of the North.
A goat farmer, lured by the green Galilee
Thatcher, Britain's first female PM, leaves a mixed legacy on women
North Korea nuclear missile capability: Do they have it or not?
Booting up Arab access to Israeli high-tech jobs
Claudio Miranda's music is taming a once-savage Brazilian neighborhood
Good Reads: China's limits, competitive America, charitable giving, and New York childhoods

U.S. tells North Korea new missile launch would be "huge mistake"

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 11:07 AM PDT

By Arshad Mohammed and Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned North Korea on Friday that it would be a "huge mistake" to test launch a medium-range missile and said the United States would never accept the reclusive country as a nuclear power. Addressing reporters after talks with South Korea's president and leaders of the 28,000-strong U.S. military contingent in the country, Kerry also said it was up to China, North Korea's sole major ally, to "put some teeth" into efforts to press Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambitions. Kerry, like other U.S. ...

Venezuela says it foiled plot to destabilize presidential vote

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 03:11 PM PDT

By Todd Benson CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's government said on Friday it foiled a plot to destabilize Sunday's presidential election, the latest in a flurry of claims that the opposition has derided as crude attempts to distract voters from the country's problems. Vice President Jorge Arreaza went on national television to announce that security forces had captured two Colombians posing as Venezuelan military officials who were allegedly planning to disrupt this weekend's vote, though he did not say how. Flanked by the military's top brass, Arreaza held up photos of the Colombian suspects. ...

Magnitsky fallout may harm missile progress as U.S. talks to Putin

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 10:00 AM PDT

By Gabriela Baczynska MOSCOW (Reuters) - Hope that a shift in U.S. missile defense strategy will improve relations with Russia risks being undermined by a fresh flare-up over human rights when President Barack Obama's top security aide visits Moscow on Monday. A change in U.S. plans for an anti-missile shield in Europe has cracked the door open for compromise on an issue that has badly strained relations between the nuclear-armed former Cold War foes. But a big obstacle looms before White House national security adviser Tom Donilon even arrives. ...

Europe's center left defends welfare amid austerity

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 10:09 AM PDT

By Balazs Koranyi COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Europe's political center left, bruised by election defeats and self-flagellation, needs to accept austerity and the end of the "good times" but stand up for the continent's welfare model, some of its leading thinkers said on Friday. Budgets may be strained and there is no way around spending cuts, but the left should focus support on the most needy and on sectors where public money has the biggest impact, center-left politicians and intellectuals agreed at a conference in Denmark. ...

Strong earthquake hits western Japan, no tsunami warning

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 02:58 PM PDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - A 6.0 magnitude earthquake hit western Japan early on Saturday, but there were no immediate reports of damage and no tsunami warning was issued, the nation's meteorological agency reported. "Although there may be slight sea-level changes in coastal regions, the earthquake caused no damage to Japan," the agency said on its website. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) initially reported the quake's magnitude at 6.3 and said it had its epicenter 24 miles northwest of Wakayama in western Honshu island, and occurred at a depth of 3.3 miles. ...

Israel fires into Syria after Golan troops come under fire

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 11:41 AM PDT

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli military said it fired artillery into Syria on Friday after its troops were shot at on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, in the latest of a series of shooting incidents on the once-quiet front. "No soldiers were injured and no damage was caused. IDF (Israel Defense Forces) soldiers responded with artillery fire towards the source of the shooting. A direct hit was identified," the military said in a statement. ...

Three Chadian soldiers killed in Mali suicide bombing

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 03:22 PM PDT

By Cheick Diouara GAO, Mali (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed three Chadian soldiers at a market in the northern Malian town of Kidal on Friday, a Chadian military official and three witnesses said. Chadian and French soldiers have been stationed in the desert town since late January to fight Islamist rebels hiding in the region's mountainous borderlands. "He blew himself up next to a group of Chadian soldiers. Three were killed in the blast and several others were wounded," resident Ag Waerzagane Assikadaye told Reuters by telephone. ...

Hungary promises changes after EU threat in amendment row

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 11:26 AM PDT

By Adrian Croft and Sandor Peto BRUSSELS/BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary promised on Friday to make changes after the EU executive threatened action to overturn constitutional amendments it said may be incompatible with European Union law. The EU, the United States and human rights organizations have accused Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government of using constitutional amendments to limit the powers of Hungary's top court and undermine democracy in the former Soviet satellite. ...

Neo-Nazi trial forces Germany to confront painful truths

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 11:15 AM PDT

By Alexandra Hudson JENA, Germany (Reuters) - Twenty years ago in the drab pre-fab housing blocks outside the east German town of Jena, swaggering youths gave Sieg-Heil salutes and flaunted their far-right views, as the structures of the only state they'd ever known crumbled around them. Among them were three local teenagers, Beate Zschaepe, Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Boehnhardt, whose racist hatred would fuse with a militancy not seen before in the neo-Nazi scene. ...

Turkey has new law on asylum, but sets limits for non-Europeans

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 11:03 AM PDT

By Jonathon Burch ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey passed a long-awaited asylum law on Friday that will enhance protection for people seeking refuge, but retained restrictions on applications from those from outside Europe. Turkey's position as a bridge from Asia to Europe, as well as its wealth compared with neighboring states, has long made it both a destination and a transit point for migrants from the Middle East and as far afield as Africa and South Asia. ...

Kerry tamps down anxiety over NKorea missile power

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 04:48 PM PDT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivered a stark warning to North Korea on Friday not to test-fire a mid-range missile, while tamping down anxiety caused by a new U.S. intelligence report suggesting significant progress in the communist regime's nuclear weapons program.

Despite tensions, NKorea readies for festivities

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 06:53 AM PDT

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — As the world watches to see what North Korea's next move will be in a high-stakes game of brinksmanship with the United States, residents of its capital aren't hunkering down in bunkers and preparing for the worst. Instead, they are out on the streets en masse getting ready for the birthday of national founder Kim Il Sung — the biggest holiday of the year.

As protesters jeer, Hopi masks sell in Paris

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 12:15 PM PDT

PARIS (AP) — In a chaotic auction repeatedly interrupted by protests, dozens of Native American tribal masks were sold Friday after a French court ignored the objections of the Hopi tribe and the U.S. government.

Hague war crimes court investigating own staffer

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 02:44 PM PDT

AMSTERDAM (AP) — The International Criminal Court in The Hague has opened a formal investigation into allegations by four people who say they were subjected to sexual abuse by a court staff member working in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Syrian troops widen offensive in border areas

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 01:54 PM PDT

AL-QASR, LEBANON (AP) — Syrian soldiers backed by warplanes battled rebels for control of strategic hilltop villages near the Lebanese border on Friday, as government troops step up counterattacks against opposition forces threatening regime supply lines on the country's frontiers.

BBC in hot seat as anti-Thatcher song climbs chart

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 01:37 PM PDT

LONDON (AP) — Opponents of the late Margaret Thatcher are taking a kind of musical revenge on the former prime minister, pushing the song "Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead" up the British charts in a posthumous protest over her polarizing policies.

Canada police reopen investigation of alleged rape

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 04:53 PM PDT

TORONTO (AP) — Authorities are reopening the case of a teen who hanged herself after she was allegedly raped and bullied for months, the Royal Canadian Mountain Police said Friday.

In UK, aristocrats still face 'Downton' dilemma

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 09:27 AM PDT

LONDON (AP) — Viscount Timothy Torrington's story reads like a real-life version of "Downton Abbey," the hit period drama about the family of an earl who has no direct heir to inherit his title.

Tears flow as 13 Serbian shooting victims buried

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 06:57 AM PDT

VELIKA IVANCA, Serbia (AP) — Mourners wailed and church bells tolled Friday in this Serbian village as hundreds came to bury 13 people shot dead by a man some called a quiet, helpful neighbor.

The well-greased vote machine Chavez left

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 01:01 PM PDT

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Socialist party activist Rodolfo Sanchez is all nervous energy as he mounts the impossibly steep streets of his impoverished hillside neighborhood. With days to go before Sunday's election to replace Hugo Chavez, it's his job to get out the maximum vote for the late president's hand-picked successor.

Why Indonesia's farmers have begun to guard their crops like gold

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 01:02 PM PDT

Central Java's farming villages are tight-knit and communal. But trust in one's neighbors has wavered over the past month as food prices have spiked, turning crops like garlic and shallots into a small fortune.

Will Bashir's visit help close the divide between the Sudans?

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 11:20 AM PDT

Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir visited South Sudan for the first time on Friday, nearly two years after the South became an independent state that Mr. Bashir pledged to have normal relations with.

Egypt's Copts lash out at government's anti-Christian rhetoric

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 11:05 AM PDT

An attack on the main cathedral of the Coptic Orthodox Church has provoked the church's strongest criticism of Egypt's leaders in decades, an indication of deepening worry over the deteriorating situation for Christians in Egypt.

Europe indicates it's sticking with austerity. But is that working?

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 10:57 AM PDT

This week European Council President Herman Van Rompuy reaffirmed the European government's commitment to the austerity measures it has required of its struggling periphery. But experts say that austerity has only worked to an extent, due to too little focus on growth and a lack of actual reforms.

Deadly Taliban attack targets elite unit in Afghanistan

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 10:49 AM PDT

• A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

Hebrew lives on in Hamas-run Gaza

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 10:39 AM PDT

Every day, Daniel Fares watches Israel's two main news stations, Channel 2 and Channel 10. But despite his Jewish-sounding name, he's not Israeli. He doesn't even live in Israel.

Kim Jong-un's goal? Status as the unequivocal god-king of the North.

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 09:58 AM PDT

As Kim Jong-un breathes fire and possibly prepares to test another long-range missile, the North Korean leader's main advantage is that no one knows who he is or what he is capable of instigating.

A goat farmer, lured by the green Galilee

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 09:46 AM PDT

Avi Yankelevitch, a burly goat farmer, shows us the way to our yurt and then whips out his pocketknife to cut a passion fruit straight off the bush. He offers it to us on the palm of his thick, weathered hand.

Thatcher, Britain's first female PM, leaves a mixed legacy on women

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 08:45 AM PDT

She was famously the "only man" in a cabinet made up of men.

North Korea nuclear missile capability: Do they have it or not?

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 06:04 AM PDT

• A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

Booting up Arab access to Israeli high-tech jobs

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 05:44 AM PDT

Israel touted its flourishing high-tech industry to US President Obama during his recent visit, showing off innovations in search and rescue, robotics, and alternative energy that the president deemed "inspiring."

Claudio Miranda's music is taming a once-savage Brazilian neighborhood

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 05:00 AM PDT

Claudio Miranda never let having little stop him from dreaming big.

Good Reads: China's limits, competitive America, charitable giving, and New York childhoods

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 05:00 AM PDT

China faces a "glass ceiling" in its efforts to become the predominant world power, argues Geoff Dyer in Foreign Policy.