2013年5月21日星期二

Yahoo! News: World News

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Yahoo! News: World News


Syrian foes move towards talks but fighting rages

Posted: 21 May 2013 11:50 AM PDT

People wait for buses at the al-Abassin bus station, near Damascus' Jobar neighbourhoodBy Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's opposition and the government of President Bashar al-Assad seem to be preparing to take part in an international peace conference against a background of some of the worst fighting this year. On Tuesday, Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and Syrian soldiers, backed by air strikes and artillery, renewed an offensive aimed at driving Syrian rebels from the town of Qusair near the Lebanese border, opposition activists said. ...


Iran bars candidates for presidential election

Posted: 21 May 2013 03:51 PM PDT

Former President Rafsanjani casts his ballot in a parliamentary election in TehranBy Marcus George DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian authorities barred two potentially powerful and disruptive candidates from running in next month's presidential election on Tuesday, ensuring a contest largely among hardliners loyal to the clerical supreme leader. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a veteran companion of the Islamic Republic's founder, a former president and thought potentially sympathetic to reform, was denied a place on the ballot by the Guardian Council of clerics and jurists, state media said. ...


Attacks in Iraq kill over 40, sectarian tensions high

Posted: 21 May 2013 02:21 PM PDT

Onlookers gather outside Zain al-Abideen mosque to inspect damage a day after a suicide bomb attack in HillaBy Kareem Raheem BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) - A series of bomb and gun attacks across Iraq killed more than 40 people on Tuesday, a day after over 70 died in violence targeting majority Shi'ites that has stoked fears of all-out sectarian war with minority Sunnis. Nearly 300 people have been killed in the past week as sectarian tensions, fuelled by the civil war in neighboring Syria, threaten to plunge Iraq back into communal bloodletting. Ten years after the U.S. ...


As U.S. struggles with Syria policy, Senate panel backs arming rebels

Posted: 21 May 2013 03:22 PM PDT

Free Syrian Army fighters react during the firing of a rocket towards forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Deir al-ZorBy Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Senate panel voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to send weapons to rebels fighting Syria's government, but it was not clear who would get the arms even if the bill succeeds, as Washington struggles to deal with its response to the conflict. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 15-3 for legislation that would send arms to "vetted" moderate members of the Syrian opposition, the first time U.S. lawmakers have approved such military action in the two-year-old civil war. ...


With wary eye on the U.S., China courts India

Posted: 21 May 2013 02:17 PM PDT

File photo of Chinese Premier Li and India's PM Singh waving towards the media during Li's ceremonial reception in New DelhiBy Frank Jack Daniel and Rajesh Kumar Singh NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, smiling and effusive, was out to smooth ruffled feathers in India this week, promising to ease tensions and increase trade between Asia's fastest growing economies in his first trip overseas since taking office. "China will make your dream come true," Li told a banquet hall filled with Chinese and Indian business executives in the financial capital of Mumbai as he wound up his visit on Tuesday. ...


UK coalition to last despite rifts, infighting: Deputy PM

Posted: 21 May 2013 04:07 PM PDT

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg attend the State Opening of Parliament in LondonBy Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's deputy prime minister will take the unusual step of holding a news conference on Wednesday to say the country's two-party coalition will hold together until 2015 as he tries to stabilize a government beset by infighting and rifts. In a demarche that risks being cast as a sign of weakness by political opponents, Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, the junior partner in the coalition, will try to reassure voters that his alliance with Prime Minister David Cameron will endure until the next national election. ...


Tornado Warning: Despite Oklahoma Alert, U.S. Weather Forecasting Service Needs Major Upgrades

Posted: 21 May 2013 04:22 PM PDT

The atmosphere never gets a moment's privacy. It can barely stir enough to move a leaf without some piece of high-tech equipment—often many, many pieces—knowing about it. The U.S. alone has up to 30 satellites at any one moment that devote at least part of their time to monitoring global and national weather patterns; 122 Doppler radar systems scattered across the country looking up from the ground; and a web of computers that just got a massive upgrade—increasing their data-crunching capacity 30-fold—to process the information that all that other hardware gathers.

Oklahoma tornado was a monster, but it wasn't a record-breaker

Posted: 21 May 2013 04:16 PM PDT

The National Weather Service has rated the tornado that struck Moore, Okla., Monday afternoon as an EF5, the highest rating with wind speeds estimated at more than 200 miles an hour.

MLS deal with billionaire oil sheikh could be bigger than Beckham

Posted: 21 May 2013 03:12 PM PDT

Two of the most deep-pocketed teams in world sport – Manchester City of the English Premier League and the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball – have agreed to pay $100 million to own and operate a new professional soccer team in New York City starting in 2015.

Tornado-Proofing Cities in the Age of Extreme Weather

Posted: 21 May 2013 03:06 PM PDT

Right now the death toll from the massive tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma on May 20 seems—thankfully—to be less than first thought. City officials now say that 24 people have been confirmed dead, down from 51 people last night, due to double counting of some bodies in the confusion. But the new number still includes 9 children, and the toll could rise as rescuers search through the rubble.

Top figures barred from Iran's June ballot

Posted: 21 May 2013 01:13 PM PDT

In this picture taken on Saturday, May 11, 2013, former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani waves to media as he registers his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election, while his daughter Fatemeh, right, looks on, at the election headquarters of the interior ministry in Tehran, Iran. A hardline news website says Iran's election overseers have rejected a pair of powerful and divisive figures from running in next month's presidential election. Tasnimnews.com say Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president who still wields enormous influence, and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a close confident of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have been barred by the Guardian Council. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's election overseers removed potential wild-card candidates from the presidential race Tuesday, blocking a top aide of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and a former president who revived hopes of reformers.


Iran candidate list for presidential race

Posted: 21 May 2013 12:35 PM PDT

COMBO - This combination of eight pictures shows eight candidates approved Tuesday, May 21, 2013 for Iran's June 14 presidential election to replace Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who cannot run again because of term limits, clockwise from left: Mohammad Gharazi, Mohsen Rezaei, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, Saeed Jalili, Ali Akbar Velayati, and Hasan Rowhani, taken between May 9 and May 11, 2013. (AP Photo)The eight candidates approved Tuesday for Iran's June 14 presidential election to replace Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who cannot run again because of term limits.


Key senator to let Myanmar sanctions bill lapse

Posted: 21 May 2013 03:10 PM PDT

President Barack Obama gestures toward Myanmar's President Thein Sein during their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, May 20, 2013. Thein Sein is the first Myanmar president to be welcomed to the White House in almost 47 years. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, easing up on his long-held tough stance on Myanmar, said Tuesday he planned to allow key sanctions legislation against the Southeast Asian nation to lapse because of the country's progress toward democracy.


Syria opposition signals tough line on peace talks

Posted: 21 May 2013 11:25 AM PDT

This citizen journalism image provided by Qusair Lens, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a Syrian man checking his destroyed house that was damaged by a Syrian forces air strike in the town of Qusair, near the Lebanon border, Homs province, Syria, Tuesday, May 21, 2013. Several members of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group died of wounds sustained while fighting for control of a strategic Syrian town near the Lebanese border, activists said Tuesday, as the battle in the area raged for its third straight day. (AP Photo/Qusair Lens)BEIRUT (AP) — Despite recent rebel setbacks in Syria's civil war, the main opposition bloc signaled a tough line Tuesday on attending possible peace talks with President Bashar Assad's regime.


Soldiers flood western Mexico to protect towns

Posted: 21 May 2013 02:23 PM PDT

Mexican army soldiers enter the town of La Ruana, Michoacan, Mexico, Monday, May 20, 2013. Residents of western Mexico towns who endured months besieged by a drug cartel are cheering the arrival of hundreds of Mexican army troops. Hundreds of people in the state of Michoacan have taken up arms to defend their villages against drug gangs, a vigilante movement born of frustration at extortion, killings and kidnappings in a region wracked by violence. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)COALCOMAN, Mexico (AP) — Mexico's top security officials promised Tuesday that a new federal offensive to rescue towns besieged by the Knights Templar drug cartel in western Michoacan state would stay "until there is security and peace for all state residents."


Whole neighborhoods razed by Oklahoma tornado that killed 24

Posted: 21 May 2013 04:29 PM PDT

People look at the destruction after a huge tornado struck Moore, OklahomaBy Carey Gillam and Ian Simpson MOORE, Oklahoma (Reuters) - Rescuers went building to building in search of victims and thousands of survivors were homeless on Tuesday after a massive tornado tore through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, wiping out whole blocks of homes and killing at least 24 people. The death toll was lower than initially feared, but nine children were among the dead, including seven who died at Plaza Towers Elementary School, which took a direct hit on Monday in the deadliest tornado to strike the United States in two years. ...


Egyptian army blocks Sinai roads in hunt for kidnappers

Posted: 21 May 2013 04:28 PM PDT

A helicopter flies overhead as soldiers in military vehicles proceed towards al-Jura district in El-Arish cityBy Yousri Mohamed SHEIKH ZUWAID, Egypt (Reuters) - Egyptian army and police forces stepped up roadblocks in north Sinai in a hunt for militant Islamists who kidnapped seven security officers last week, a security source said on Tuesday. The militants seized the men on a road between the towns of el-Arish and Rafah near the border with Gaza on Thursday in the latest setback for the Cairo government's efforts to reinstate law and order in the Sinai Peninsula. ...


Toronto mayor avoids questions about crack video

Posted: 21 May 2013 04:24 PM PDT

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford sits during a City council meeting at Toronto City Hall on Tuesday May 21, 2013. Ford ignored a crush of reporters waiting outside his city hall office this morning in the hopes he would address allegations that he was recorded on video appearing to smoke crack cocaine. (AP Photo/THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette)TORONTO (AP) — Toronto Mayor Rob Ford continued to duck questions Tuesday about a video that purportedly shows him smoking crack cocaine despite calls by allies and rivals for further comment.


FBI ID's Benghazi suspects _ but no arrests yet

Posted: 21 May 2013 04:07 PM PDT

FILE - This Sept. 13, 2012 file photo shows a cameraman filming one of U.S. consulate burnt out offices after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens on the night of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, in Benghazi, Libya. The U.S. has identified five men they believe might be behind the attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last year, and have enough evidence to justify seizing them by military force as suspected terrorists _ but not enough proof to try them in a U.S. civilian criminal court, the process the Obama administration prefers, U.S. officials said. (AP photo/Mohammad Hannon, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has identified five men who might be responsible for the attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last year, and has enough evidence to justify seizing them by military force as suspected terrorists, officials say. But there isn't enough proof to try them in a U.S. civilian court as the Obama administration prefers.


Ex-Ford execs charged in Argentine torture cases

Posted: 21 May 2013 04:06 PM PDT

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Three former Ford Motor Co. executives were charged Tuesday with crimes against humanity for allegedly targeting Argentine union workers for kidnapping and torture after the country's 1976 military coup.

The pope and the devil: Is Francis an exorcist?

Posted: 21 May 2013 03:31 PM PDT

In this image made from video provided by APTN, Pope Francis lays his hands on the head of a young man on Sunday, May 19, 2013, after celebrating Mass in St. Peter's Square. The young man heaved deeply a half-dozen times, convulsed and shook, and then slumped in his wheelchair as Francis prayed over him. The television station of the Italian bishops' conference said it had surveyed exorcists, who agreed Francis either performed an exorcism or a prayer to free the man from the devil. The Vatican was more cautious Tuesday, saying Francis VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis' fascination with the devil took on remarkable new twists Tuesday, with a well-known exorcist insisting Francis helped "liberate" a Mexican man possessed by four different demons despite the Vatican's insistence that no such papal exorcism took place.


Egypt troops in Sinai sweep mistakenly hit funeral

Posted: 21 May 2013 03:08 PM PDT

Egyptian Army soldiers patrol in an armored vehicle backed by a helicopter gunship during a sweep through villages in in Sheikh Zuweyid, northern Sinai, Egypt, Tuesday, May 21, 2013. Egypt's government has built up security forces in northern Sinai as part of an effort to secure the release of six policemen and a border guard kidnapped last week by suspected militants. (AP Photo)CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian troops and police mistakenly fired on a Bedouin funeral in the Sinai Peninsula on Tuesday, security officials said, in the opening salvo of a sweep searching for security personnel kidnapped by suspected militants.


Spain's former PM Aznar suggests may challenge Rajoy

Posted: 21 May 2013 03:07 PM PDT

Spain's centre-right People's Party leader Rajoy and Former Spanish prime minister Aznar talk before a national executive committee in MadridMADRID (Reuters) - Spain's former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar suggested on Tuesday he may seek to make a political comeback by mounting a challenge to his party mate and political heir Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. In a rare interview on Spanish television since leaving power in 2004 and handpicking Rajoy as his successor in the center-right People's Party (PP), Aznar called on the government to cut taxes and create new jobs. ...


Discovery of alleged Russian plot points to growing jitters

Posted: 21 May 2013 02:58 PM PDT

By Timothy Heritage OREKHOVO-ZUYEVO, Russia (Reuters) - As Russia congratulated its forces for foiling an alleged Islamist plot on Moscow, the discovery of the plan also pointed to the growing security threat before the 2014 Winter Olympics. Monday's killing of two suspected militants and arrest of a third in a sleepy town near Moscow was quickly followed by the killing of one of the leaders of an Islamist insurgency being waged in Russia's North Caucasus. ...

Suicide at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris

Posted: 21 May 2013 02:51 PM PDT

Police officers stand guard in front of Notre Dame Cathedral, in Paris, Tuesday, May 21, 2013. Notre Dame has been evacuated after a man committed suicide in the 850-year-old monument and tourist attraction. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)PARIS (AP) — Some 1,500 visitors were cleared out of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris after a man put a letter on the altar of the 850-year-old monument Tuesday, pulled out a gun and shot himself in the head.


Harry Potter book with author notes sold for $228K

Posted: 21 May 2013 02:24 PM PDT

Sotheby's director of the department of printed books and manuscripts Dr Philip Errington poses for photographers by holding a first edition copy of the first Harry Potter book "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" containing annotations and illustrations by author J.K. Rowling on top of a stack of other annotated first edition books featuring at auction, during a photocall organized for the media at the auction house's premises in London, Monday, May 20, 2013. The books will be offered for sale as part of the "First Editions, Second Thoughts" auction on May 21, for which there are no price estimates available in advance as it is a charity sale. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)LONDON (AP) — For fans of the boy wizard, this could be the most coveted copy of all the "Harry Potter" books in the world.


China's bird flu outbreak cost $6.5 billion

Posted: 21 May 2013 02:14 PM PDT

A janitor sprays disinfectant at empty chicken cages in a traditional market in New Taipei cityBy Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The H7N9 virus appears to have been brought under control in China largely due to restrictions at bird markets, but caused some $6.5 billion in losses to the economy, U.N. experts said on Tuesday. Health authorities worldwide must be on the lookout to detect the virus, the experts said, which could still develop the ability to spread easily among humans and cause a deadly influenza pandemic. ...


UN: Drop in Syrians reaching Jordan, unclear why

Posted: 21 May 2013 02:08 PM PDT

GENEVA (AP) — U.N. officials said Tuesday that the number of Syrian refugees arriving in Jordan has suddenly fallen from an average of 2,500 a day to fewer than 20, and they are trying to quickly figure out why.

Nigeria: Islamic extremist inmates to be released

Posted: 21 May 2013 02:07 PM PDT

ENUGU, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's military said Tuesday that the West African nation would release some of the prisoners it has taken in the country's fight against Islamic extremists — including all the women now held in custody.

New Egypt tax law: cuts for poor, business hikes

Posted: 21 May 2013 02:00 PM PDT

The sun sets over the Nile River and the historical site of the Giza Pyramids as seen from Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, May 21, 2013. Egypt's president has signed a new tax law that cuts the amount paid by poorer Egyptians while increasing taxes on small and medium-sized businesses. The measure is among many economic reforms the government is trying to impose to control its burgeoning budget deficit. Egypt is negotiating a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, which is pushing for economic revisions.(AP Photo/Amr Nabil)CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's president signed a new tax law Tuesday that cuts the amount paid by poorer Egyptians in the latest move aimed at reforming the country's economy.


Russia moves closer to jail terms for offending religion

Posted: 21 May 2013 01:59 PM PDT

A lone picketer holds a placard outside the State Duma in MoscowBy Maria Tsvetkova MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian lawmakers on Tuesday took a step toward imposing jail terms for offending religious feelings, approving legislation proposed after punk band Pussy Riot performed a raucous protest song in Moscow's main Orthodox Christian cathedral. Critics say the bill will give government-approved religious groups protection others lack and blur the line between church and state under President Vladimir Putin, who has advocated a strong societal role for the Russian Orthodox Church. ...


Saudi executes 5 Yemenis, displays bodies

Posted: 21 May 2013 01:34 PM PDT

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia on Tuesday executed five Yemenis convicted of crimes and displayed their bodies in public as a deterrent for future criminals, the government said.

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