Yahoo! News: World News

U.S. questions Egypt prisoner deaths, Mubarak may be freed
Britain forced Guardian to destroy copy of Snowden material
Assad's forces push back rebels in Syria's Alawite mountains
U.N.'s Ban 'deeply disturbed' by Muslim Brotherhood deaths in Egypt
In Indian Kashmir, angry youth flirt with armed militancy
Mexico opposition party, PRD, proposes limited energy reform
Egypt: Court raises possibility of a free Mubarak
Prince William describes his joy at parenthood
U.S., Russian officials to meet in The Hague on Syria
Guardian chief: UK had newspaper disks destroyed
Egypt security forces kill journalist after curfew starts
Village bloodbath highlights Egypt's new agony
Guardian chief: UK spies shredded newsroom disks
Agents defend 9/11 questioning at Guantanamo
Snowden reporter: Won't be silenced by detention
Egypt's devastating museum looting latest casualty
Egypt security forces kill journalist after curfew starts, sources say
U.N. panel to hear accounts of North Korean human rights abuses
Despite Bo's trial in China, no redress for victims of his crackdown
Ecuador leader may insist on digital-only dailies
Forty journalists, support staff killed in first half 2013: report
Snowden journalist to publish UK secrets after Britain detains partner
Afghan officials say 32 dead in clashes in west
Mexico heads back to school with flawed textbooks
Benghazi aftershocks affecting US policy in Egypt
U.S. says Zimbabwe vote flawed, won't lift sanctions
Palestinian finds Facebook bug, hacks CEO's page
Palestinian shepherd says settlers beat him
Pakistan PM calls for peace talks with militants
U.S. troubled by 'suspicious deaths' of Egyptian prisoners
Supporters of barred Madagascar candidate threaten protests
Thousands of Syrians flee to Iraq; crisis feared
A look at the Pistorius case after his indictment
U.S. got ‘heads up’ before Greenwald’s partner Miranda was detained
Nigeria military: Extremist leader may be dead

U.S. questions Egypt prisoner deaths, Mubarak may be freed

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 04:13 PM PDT

By Crispian Balmer CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian court ruling has raised the prospect of freedom for deposed military strongman Hosni Mubarak, while the United States questioned Egypt's account of the deaths of dozens of Islamist detainees and called the incident "suspicious." Six weeks after the armed forces toppled President Mohamed Mursi and about a week after hundreds died when security forces broke up protests by his Muslim Brotherhood, the United States said on Monday it was still reviewing whether to freeze any of the $1.55 billion it gives Egypt in mainly military annual aid. ...

Britain forced Guardian to destroy copy of Snowden material

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 04:19 PM PDT

By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The editor of the Guardian, a major outlet for revelations based on leaks from former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, says the British government threatened legal action against the newspaper unless it either destroyed the classified documents or handed them back to British authorities. In an article posted on the British newspaper's website on Monday, Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger said that a month ago, after the newspaper had published several stories based on Snowden's material, a British official advised him: "You've had your fun. ...

Assad's forces push back rebels in Syria's Alawite mountains

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 03:03 PM PDT

By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian army and militia troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have pushed back a rebel offensive in the mountain heartlands of his Alawite sect, officials and activists said on Monday, after days of heavy fighting and aerial bombardment. The assault by Islamist rebels on the northern edges of the Alawite mountains overlooking the Mediterranean drove hundreds of Alawite villagers out to the coast and marked a major challenge to Assad's reassertion of power over central Syria. ...

U.N.'s Ban 'deeply disturbed' by Muslim Brotherhood deaths in Egypt

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 03:28 PM PDT

By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday he was "deeply disturbed" by the deaths in custody of 37 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and condemned an ambush by Islamist militants that killed 25 Egyptian policemen. The Muslim Brotherhood supporters died on Sunday while being transferred to a prison. Government officials said they were suffocated by tear gas during an attempted escape, but the Brotherhood said the men were murdered and demanded an inquiry. ...

In Indian Kashmir, angry youth flirt with armed militancy

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 02:34 PM PDT

By Frank Jack Daniel SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Ishfaq first threw a rock at an Indian policeman six years ago. Now he's thinking about arming himself with a gun. The 21-year-old is the human face of a trend that is worrying security sources, politicians and a rights group spoken to by Reuters - the revival of violent anti-Indian sentiment among the Kashmir Valley population just as New Delhi fears a renewed onslaught from Pakistan-based militants. ...

Mexico opposition party, PRD, proposes limited energy reform

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 02:28 PM PDT

By David Alire Garcia MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's largest left-of-center political party proposed a plan on Monday that would revamp state-oil monopoly Pemex, but without amending the constitution to permit more private investment in the oil, gas and electricity sectors, as the government has proposed. The proposal of the opposition Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, would provide Pemex with budget and management autonomy, and create a new fund to administer the nation's energy riches. The proposal would also gradually lower the company's tax burden by 9 percent to 62. ...

Egypt: Court raises possibility of a free Mubarak

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 04:40 PM PDT

CAIRO (AP) — A court ruling Monday raised the possibility of jailed ex-president Hosni Mubarak walking free soon, a move that would fuel the unrest roiling the country after the autocratic leader's successor was removed in a military coup.

Prince William describes his joy at parenthood

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 04:31 PM PDT

LONDON (AP) — His newborn son is "a little bit of a rascal" and car seats can daunt any dad, Britain's Prince William says.

U.S., Russian officials to meet in The Hague on Syria

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 04:24 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A leading diplomat from the U.S. State Department and the U.S. ambassador to Syria will meet with a Russia delegation in The Hague next week to discuss plans for a peace conference to end the civil war in Syria, a spokeswoman for the State Department said on Monday. "We have long agreed with Russia that a conference in Geneva is the best vehicle for moving towards a political solution," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a daily briefing for reporters. ...

Guardian chief: UK had newspaper disks destroyed

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 04:23 PM PDT

LONDON (AP) — British agents oversaw the destruction of an unspecified number of the Guardian newspaper's hard drives in an apparent bid to keep the fruit of Edward Snowden's leaks safe from Chinese spies, the paper's editor said Monday.

Egypt security forces kill journalist after curfew starts

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 04:23 PM PDT

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian security forces killed the bureau chief of a provincial office of state newspaper Al-Ahram on Monday after opening fire on a car they thought had tried to escape from a checkpoint enforcing a dusk-to-dawn curfew, the army said in a statement. Tamer Abdel Raouf, head of Al-Ahram's bureau in Egypt's Buhayra province, was shot dead while a journalist from another state newspaper, Al Gomhuriya, was injured. Journalists are exempt from the curfew. ...

Village bloodbath highlights Egypt's new agony

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 03:40 PM PDT

CAIRO (AP) — The police captain says he has memories of pretending to be dead, of men being dragged around by cars, of a policeman being told by his attacker: "We will give you a slow death."

Guardian chief: UK spies shredded newsroom disks

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 03:37 PM PDT

LONDON (AP) — The editor of the Guardian newspaper says that British agents destroyed an unspecified number of his newsroom's hard drives in an apparent bid to keep Edward Snowden's leaked intelligence material safe from Chinese spies.

Agents defend 9/11 questioning at Guantanamo

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 03:30 PM PDT

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — Two U.S. federal agents on Monday defended their interrogation of a Guantanamo Bay prisoner accused of providing assistance to the Sept. 11 hijackers as a pretrial hearing resumed in the slowly unfolding war crimes proceedings for the five men charged in the attacks.

Snowden reporter: Won't be silenced by detention

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 03:18 PM PDT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — An American journalist who has written stories based on documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden said Monday he'll publish with more fervor after British authorities detained his partner.

Egypt's devastating museum looting latest casualty

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 02:24 PM PDT

CAIRO (AP) — As violent clashes roiled Egypt, looters made away with a prized 3,500-year-old limestone statue, ancient beaded jewelry and more than 1,000 other artifacts in the biggest theft to hit an Egyptian museum in living memory.

Egypt security forces kill journalist after curfew starts, sources say

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 02:23 PM PDT

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian security forces killed the bureau chief of a provincial office of state newspaper Al-Ahram on Monday after opening fire on a car they thought had tried to escape from a checkpoint enforcing a dusk-to-dawn curfew, security sources said. In what appeared to be an accidental shooting because journalists are exempt from the curfew, Tamer Abdel Raouf, head of Al-Ahram's bureau in Egypt's Buhayra province, was shot dead while a journalist from another state newspaper, Al Gomhuriya, was injured, according to the sources. ...

U.N. panel to hear accounts of North Korean human rights abuses

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 02:20 PM PDT

By Michelle Kim and Ju-min Park SEOUL (Reuters) - A U.N. panel will start hearing harrowing testimony from North Korean defectors on Tuesday in a move that will likely mobilize public opinion on abuses in the one-party state that comes at or near the bottom of most measures of freedom. There are an estimated 150,000-200,000 people in North Korean prison camps, according to independent estimates, and defectors say many inmates are malnourished or worked to death. ...

Despite Bo's trial in China, no redress for victims of his crackdown

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 02:03 PM PDT

By Sui-Lee Wee BEIJING (Reuters) - The curtain may be about to fall on China's disgraced leader Bo Xilai, but victims of the harsh brand of justice he handed out in a high-profile crime crackdown are not making any headway in their campaign for redress. Lawyers estimate there are thousands of cases demanding restitution in the foggy southwestern metropolis of Chongqing, which Bo ruled as Communist Party boss until he was dramatically sacked early last year amid lurid allegations of graft and murder. ...

Ecuador leader may insist on digital-only dailies

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 02:02 PM PDT

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador's combative president is threatening to try to force the country's newspapers to go all-digital as a way to save paper.

Forty journalists, support staff killed in first half 2013: report

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 01:50 PM PDT

GENEVA (Reuters) - Forty journalists and back-up staff were killed on the job in the first half of this year and the circumstances of another 27 media deaths have yet to be clarified, a media safety group reported on Monday. Killings often occurred because of the victims' work in uncovering crime or corruption, while the highest single country total was eight - in Syria where journalists have been targeted by both government and rebel forces in the civil war there. ...

Snowden journalist to publish UK secrets after Britain detains partner

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 01:32 PM PDT

By Pedro Fonseca RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - The journalist who first published secrets leaked by fugitive former U.S. intelligence agency contractor Edward Snowden vowed on Monday to publish more documents and said Britain will "regret" detaining his partner for nine hours. British authorities used anti-terrorism laws on Sunday to detain David Miranda, partner of U.S. journalist Glenn Greenwald, as he passed through London's Heathrow airport. ...

Afghan officials say 32 dead in clashes in west

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 01:15 PM PDT

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Battles between the Taliban and an Afghan security company left 32 people dead over the weekend, officials said Monday, as the country marked its 94th independence day from Britain with a small military parade and folk festivals in the capital.

Mexico heads back to school with flawed textbooks

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 01:13 PM PDT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — As Mexican children trooped back to school on Monday, they had already learned one lesson: You can't believe everything you read in your textbook.

Benghazi aftershocks affecting US policy in Egypt

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 01:01 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The specter of Benghazi is affecting U.S. policy in coup-wracked Egypt.

U.S. says Zimbabwe vote flawed, won't lift sanctions

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 12:58 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States believes Zimbabwe's recent election was flawed and it doesn't plan to loosen sanctions against President Robert Mugabe's government until there are signs of change in the country, the State Department said on Monday, despite an endorsement of the vote by Southern African leaders. Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, is set to be sworn in as president as early as this week, extending his 33-year rule of the country after winning the July 31 election. ...

Palestinian finds Facebook bug, hacks CEO's page

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 12:55 PM PDT

YATTA, West Bank (AP) — After discovering a privacy bug on Facebook, unemployed Palestinian programmer Khalil Shreateh said he just wanted to collect the traditional $500 bounty the social network giant offers to those who voluntarily expose its glitches.

Palestinian shepherd says settlers beat him

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 12:53 PM PDT

MIKHMAS, West Bank (AP) — Shepherds from this Palestinian village say they think twice before taking their herds to graze near Jewish settlement outposts in the area, fearing attacks by militant settlers.

Pakistan PM calls for peace talks with militants

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 12:40 PM PDT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's prime minister reiterated Monday an offer of peace talks with militants in the country's northwest who have waged a bloody campaign against the government and so far rejected any talk of negotiations.

U.S. troubled by 'suspicious deaths' of Egyptian prisoners

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 12:23 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department voiced deep concern on Monday about the deaths of Muslim Brotherhood prisoners while in custody in Egypt, terming them "suspicious," and made clear that it does not believe the Islamist group should be banned. "We are ... deeply troubled by the suspicious deaths of Muslim Brotherhood prisoners in a purported prison escape attempt near Cairo," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters, referring to 37 supporters of ousted President Mohamed Mursi who died in disputed circumstances on Sunday. ...

Supporters of barred Madagascar candidate threaten protests

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 12:20 PM PDT

By Alain Iloniaina ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) - Supporters of the wife of Madagascar's deposed leader said they would take to the streets to protest against an "illegal" court ruling barring her from running in elections, threatening to bring more turmoil to the island nation. The electoral court on Saturday also banned incumbent President Andry Rajoelina from standing in the August poll - a ruling widely welcomed by Western and regional powers who say the country needs a fresh start with new candidates. ...

Thousands of Syrians flee to Iraq; crisis feared

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 12:09 PM PDT

BAGHDAD (AP) — Tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds swarmed across a bridge into neighboring Iraq's northern self-ruled Kurdish region over the past few days in one of the biggest waves of refugees since the rebellion against President Bashar Assad began, U.N. officials said Monday.

A look at the Pistorius case after his indictment

Posted: 19 Aug 2013 11:59 AM PDT

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — A look at the Oscar Pistorius case after the double-amputee Olympian was indicted on a charge of premeditated murder Monday in girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp's killing: