2013年1月8日星期二

Yahoo! News: World News

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Yahoo! News: World News


Venezuela postpones inauguration for cancer-stricken Chavez

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 04:07 PM PST

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela will postpone the inauguration of President Hugo Chavez for a new term due to health problems, the government said on Tuesday, another sign the socialist leader's cancer may be bringing an end to his 14 years in power. The 58-year-old former soldier who has dominated the South American OPEC nation since 1999 has not been heard from since surgery on December 11 in Cuba - his fourth operation since he was diagnosed with an undisclosed type of cancer in June 2011. ...

U.S. does not rule out removing all troops from Afghanistan

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 04:48 PM PST

U.S. and Afghan soldiers take a knee near a U.S. Army Chinook during an operation near the town of Walli Was in Paktika provinceWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration does not rule out a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan after 2014, the White House said on Tuesday, just days before President Barack Obama is due to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The comments by U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes were the clearest signal yet that, despite initial recommendations by the top military commander in Afghanistan to keep as many as 15,000 troops in the country, Obama could opt to remove everyone, as happened in Iraq in 2011. ...


Insight: Aleppo misery eats at Syrian rebel support

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 11:13 AM PST

File photo of a boy holding pita bread as others stand in line outside a bakery in AleppoALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) - At a crowded market stall in Syria, a middle-aged couple, well dressed, shuffle over to press a folded note, furtively, into the hand of a foreign reporter. It is the kind of silent cry for help against a reign of fear that has been familiar to journalists visiting Syria over the past two years. Only this is not the Damascus of President Bashar al-Assad but rebel-held Aleppo; the note laments misrule under the revolution and hopes Assad can defeat its "terrorism". ...


Tunisia frees man held over attack on U.S. consulate in Libya

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 05:54 AM PST

The U.S. Consulate in Benghazi is seen in flames during a protestTunis (Reuters) - Tunisia has freed, for lack of evidence, a Tunisian man who had been suspected of involvement in an Islamist militant attack in Libya last year in which the U.S. ambassador was killed, his lawyer said on Tuesday. Ali Harzi was one of two Tunisians named in October by the Daily Beast website as having been detained in Turkey over the violence in which Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, and three other American officials were killed. "The judge decided to free Harzi and he is free now," lawyer Anouar Awled Ali told Reuters. ...


Netanyahu takes on the world in Israeli election campaign

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 09:01 AM PST

Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu stands next to an FEL during a visit to the Ariel University Centre in the Jewish settlement of ArielJERUSALEM (Reuters) - It's Bibi against the world on a campaign trail that took the combative Israeli prime minister to a Jewish settlement on Tuesday. Enjoying a wide opinion poll lead before a January 22 election, Benjamin Netanyahu has been lecturing the international community - vocal in its criticism of settlement expansion on occupied territory and his hints of military action against Iran - about what it should really be worried about. ...


India accuses Pakistan of killing soldiers in Kashmir

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 10:49 AM PST

JAMMU, India (Reuters) - India accused old enemy Pakistan of sending troops across the heavily militarized line dividing the disputed region of Kashmir on Tuesday, and said two of its soldiers were killed and one wounded in a gunfight. The body of one of the soldiers was found "badly mutilated" in a forested area of the Himalayan territory on the side controlled by India, said Rajesh K. Kalia, spokesman for the Indian army's Northern Command. ...

Protesters pelt Northen Irish police with petrol bombs for sixth night

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 03:02 PM PST

Police dressed in riot gear clear Tempelmore of debris placed there by loyalist youths in BelfastBELFAST (Reuters) - Pro-British protesters pelted police with petrol bombs and fireworks in a sixth successive night of rioting in Northern Ireland's capital of Belfast. A crowd of about 100, mostly teenagers, attacked officers on Tuesday in the east of the city but police did not have to resort to water cannon and plastic baton rounds to stop the violence as was the case on Monday. ...


Mali says army has repelled Islamist attack

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 02:57 PM PST

BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's army repelled an attack on its advance positions by heavily armed Islamist groups moving southward, the Defence Ministry said on Tuesday, in the first clashes since militants seized the country's north in April. In a communique, the ministry said government forces had clashed with fighters from al Qaeda's north African wing AQIM as well as the Ansar Dine and MUJWA Islamist movements late on Monday close to the town of Mopti, 450 km (280 miles) northeast of the capital Bamako. ...

Berlusconi slams "feminist" judges for huge divorce settlement

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 02:14 PM PST

Italy's Prime Minister Berlusconi addresses the 64th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New YorkROME (Reuters) - Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday slammed a panel of three "feminist and communist" female judges for ruling that he owed his estranged wife 200,000 euros ($260,000) per day as part of a divorce settlement. On December 28, the newspaper Corriere della Sera said the divorce ruling had been deposited just before Christmas, and that Berlusconi had been ordered to pay Veronica Lario, whom he married in 1990, about 100,000 euros per day. It was the first time Berlusconi had commented publicly on the settlement. ...


Syrians brush off Assad speech as fighting rages

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 05:33 AM PST

Civilans and Free Syrian Army fighters gather at the site hit by a missile in Aleppo's al-Mashhad districtBEIRUT (Reuters) - Fighting raged across Syria on Monday with clashes reported just a few miles from where President Bashar al-Assad had unveiled a "peace plan" that Syrians on both sides said would do nothing to end the country's 21-month-old uprising. Hours after Assad addressed cheering loyalists at the Damascus Opera House on Sunday in his first public speech in months, fighting erupted near the road to the city's international airport, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The opposition-linked group said artillery hit the district of Aqraba, 3 miles from the Opera House. ...


Winter storm brings more misery to Syrian refugees

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 12:58 PM PST

Two Syrian refugees walk among tents, surrounded by water and mud, at Zaatari Syrian refugee camp, near the Syrian border in Mafraq, Jordan, Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013. Syrian refugees in a Jordanian camp attacked aid workers with sticks and stones on Tuesday, frustrated after cold, howling winds swept away their tents and torrential rains flooded muddy streets overnight. Police said seven aid workers were injured. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon)ZAATARI, Jordan (AP) — A winter storm is magnifying the misery for tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing the country's civil war, turning a refugee camp into a muddy swamp where howling winds tore down tents and exposed the displaced residents to freezing temperatures.


Officials: US may leave no troops in Afghanistan

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 03:21 PM PST

Feet are seen passing through the tarp covered walkway, for security, to the Blair House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013, as the Afghan delegation headed by the Afghan President Hamid Karzai arrives. President Barack Obama will host Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his delegation at the White House for bilateral meetings on Friday, Jan. 11. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration gave the first explicit signal Tuesday that it might leave no troops in Afghanistan after December 2014, an option that defies the Pentagon's view that thousands of troops may be needed to keep a lid on al-Qaida and to strengthen Afghan forces.


Mexico City feral dog killings open debate

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 04:48 PM PST

In this 12 picture composite released by the Mexico City's Attorney Generals Office on Monday Jan. 7, 2013, several dogs are shown behind bars after they were caught in the vicinity where where a woman, her baby and a teenage couple were found dead and covered in dog bites in two separate incidents in recent days. Authorities have captured 25 dogs near the scene of the attacks in the capital's poor Iztapalapa district, but rather than calm residents, photos of the forlorn dogs brought a wave of sympathy for the animals, doubts about their involvement in the killings and debate about government handling of the stray dog problem. (AP Photo/Mexico City's Attorney Generals Office)MEXICO CITY (AP) — Police scoured a hilly urban park for feral dogs and tested dozens of captured animals on Tuesday in a hunt for those responsible for four fatal maulings that have set off a fierce debate about how to handle the thousands of stray dogs that roam this massive city.


Ailing Chavez unable to attend swearing-in

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 05:17 PM PST

A Venezuelan embassy worker holds up a framed image of Venezuela's ailing President Hugo Chavez during the monthly Catholic service devoted to the sick at the Church of Our Lady of Regla, in Regla, across the bay from Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013. Venezuela's government said Monday, Chavez is in a "stable situation" in a Cuban hospital receiving treatment due to a severe respiratory infection. The update came as other government officials reiterated their stance that the president need not be sworn in for a new term as scheduled this Thursday and could instead have his inauguration at a later date. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's National Assembly has approved a plan for President Hugo Chavez not to attend his scheduled inauguration this Thursday and to instead be sworn in later on before the Supreme Court.


Lawyer: Tunisian suspect in Libya attack freed

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 11:56 AM PST

FILE - In this Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012 file photo, a Libyan man investigates the inside of the U.S. Consulate after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, on the night of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, in Benghazi, Libya. A man linked to the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi has been conditionally released by Tunisian authorities due to lack of evidence, his lawyer said Tuesday Jan. 8, 2013. The release of Ali Harzi, a 26-year-old Tunisian, appears to represent a blow to the investigation of the Sept. 11 attack on the consulate in Libya. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon, File)TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisian authorities released one of the only men in custody for alleged links to September's attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in the Libyan city of Benghazi, the latest blow to an investigation that has limped along for months.


Google exec gets look at NKoreans using Internet

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 04:38 PM PST

Executive Chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt, third from left, and former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, second from right, watch as a North Korean student surfs the Internet at a computer lab during a tour of Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang, North Korea on Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013. Schmidt is the highest-profile U.S. executive to visit North Korea - a country with notoriously restrictive online policies - since young leader Kim Jong Un took power a year ago. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Students at North Korea's premier university showed Google's executive chairman how they look for information online: They Google it.


US sees Iran behind hostage photos of ex-FBI agent

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 11:40 AM PST

This undated handout photo provided by the family of Robert Levinson, shows retired-FBI agent Robert Levinson. Levinson, 64, went missing on the Iranian island of Kish in March 2007. Levinson's family received these photographs of him in April 2011. U.S officials suspect the Iranians or its proxies are holding Levinson hostage. (AP Photo/Levinson Family)WASHINGTON (AP) — Two years after a hostage video and photographs of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson raised the possibility that the missing American was being held by terrorists, U.S. officials now see the government of Iran behind the images, intelligence officials told The Associated Press.


Iran's medical crisis deepens as economy sputters

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 08:29 AM PST

In this Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012 photo, an Iranian pharmacist arranges medicine on shelves at a pharmacy in central Tehran, Iran. While medicine and humanitarian supplies are not blocked by the economic embargoes on Iran over its nuclear program, the pressures are clearly evident in nearly every level of Iranian health care. It's a sign of the domino effect of sanctions on everyday life. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — For the first time in more than a decade, the black market pharmaceutical peddlers are back on Nasser Khosrow Street near Tehran's main bazaar.


Depardieu skips drunk driving hearing in France

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 10:53 AM PST

FIFA President Joseph "Sepp" Blatter, left, and French-Russian actor Gerard Depardieu, right, arrive for the FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala 2013 held at the Kongresshaus in Zurich, Switzerland, on Monday, Jan. 7, 2013. French actor Gerard Depardieu has received a Russian passport after he sought Russian citizenship as part of his battle against a proposed super tax on millionaires in France. (AP Photo/Keystone/Walter Bieri)PARIS (AP) — In the last three days, Gerard Depardieu met with Vladimir Putin to get Russian citizenship, got a prime seat at soccer's biggest annual gala in Switzerland and dashed off to Montenegro to eye some real estate.


Wildfires rage across Australia amid searing heat

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 06:43 AM PST

COOMA, Australia (AP) — Firefighters battled scores of wildfires Tuesday in southeastern Australia as authorities evacuated national parks and warned that hot, dry and windy conditions were combining to raise the threat to its highest alert level.

Britain debates: What should European welfare look like?

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 12:30 PM PST

On Tuesday, the British government pushed through a parliamentary vote to temporarily cap welfare benefits, setting down a dividing line on an issue that will be pivotal in determining who wins the UK's next general election.

Karzai meets Obama: How will they shape a post-2014 Afghanistan?

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 11:50 AM PST

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's visit to Washington this week will shape the future of Afghanistan, as he and Obama determine the number and role – if any – of US forces in Afghanistan post-2014.

Poaching crisis escalates with 'targeted, efficient' slaughter of 12 Kenya elephants

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 11:10 AM PST

Kenya has suffered its worst single loss of elephants to poachers on record, with 12 members of one family slaughtered and their tusks hacked out in just a few hours last weekend.

Border raids give India-Pakistan peace process a reality check

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 10:53 AM PST

Two days after the Pakistani Army claimed that a cross-border Indian raid killed a Pakistani soldier and wounded another, the Indian Army claimed that Pakistani soldiers crossed its side of the line in Jammu and Kashmir state today and killed two Indian soldiers.

Hagel nomination: Israelis ask 'what's the big deal?'

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 08:31 AM PST

Congressional clashes ahead over Obama nomineesPresident Obama's choice of Chuck Hagel for secretary of Defense, hotly contested by the American Jewish community, has received a muted response in Israel. While some echo concerns that the former Republican senator is dangerous or anti-Semitic, others here ask, "Who's that?"


Does Depardieu herald Russia as a tax haven for Europe?

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 08:41 AM PST

French movie star Gerard Depardieu has returned to his native habitat in western Europe following a tumultuous Russia visit that has left behind a nation collectively scratching its head over the instinctively authoritarian Vladimir Putin's quirky decision to bestow Russian citizenship upon a cantankerous foreign tax rebel, and the equally odd spectacle of Mr. Depardieu accepting it amid a fusillade of lavish praise for Mr. Putin's regime.

Do French women need feminism?

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 06:41 AM PST

When ex-model and former French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy made comments in the December issue of Paris Vogue declaring, "My generation doesn't need feminism," Anne-Cécile Mailfert, one of many French women catching the news on her iPhone, was aghast.

France's 'boys will be boys' mentality challenges gender equality

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 06:30 AM PST

The flip side of feminism in France is a very flip attitude that being macho is an excuse that rightly covers many sins.

British soldier killed in latest 'insider attack' in Afghanistan

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 06:07 AM PST

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