Yahoo! News: World News

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• China, Japan engage in new invective over disputed isles
• Big powers set to respond if Iran addresses nuclear concerns: Kerry
• Assad's forces try to beat back rebels closing on Damascus
• French charge north in Mali, Bamako shooting kills two
• Egyptian protesters clash with police after days of calm
• Violence mars funeral of Tunisian opposition leader
• France plays down report of ransom paid for Niger hostages
• Angolan court rejects opposition complaint on sovereign fund
• Britain condemns "criminal" horsemeat scandal
• Canadian officer who spied for Russia jailed for 20 years
• Syrian rebels preparing for advance on capital
• Ex-US envoy: $17M French ransom funded al-Qaida
• Locals: Mali suicide bomber tied to terror leader
• Gunmen kill Nigeria women giving polio vaccines
• EU leaders agree to $1.28 trillion 7-year budget
• NATO rejects UN report on death of Afghan children
• Accused witch burned alive in Papua New Guinea
• Saga of speeding politician rivets Britain
• Rare Afghan fashion show seeks to empower women
• As Carnival fever seizes Rio, some seek escape
• EU leaders approve budget, and everyone wins - at least politically
• Trumpeting its technological strength, Iran releases video from downed US drone
• TV drama? Putin rips Sochi official on air over Olympic cost overruns
• Irish beef avoids EU budget chop. Is agricultural subsidy reform on the menu?
• Palestinian textbooks fall short where they are most needed - introducing 'the other'
• Tunisians mourn slain opposition leader amid concerns of rising turmoil
• Thang Dinh Tran loves maps and Vietnam. That may put him in the eye of a storm.

China, Japan engage in new invective over disputed isles Posted: 08 Feb 2013 02:44 PM PST BEIJING (Reuters) - China and Japan engaged on Friday in a fresh round of invective over military movements near a disputed group of uninhabited islands, fuelling tension that for months has bedeviled relations between the Asian powers. An increasingly muscular China has been repeatedly at odds with others in the region over rival claims to small clusters of islands, most recently with fellow economic giant Japan which accused a Chinese navy vessel of locking radar normally used to aim weapons on a Japanese naval ship in the East China Sea. ...

Big powers set to respond if Iran addresses nuclear concerns: Kerry Posted: 08 Feb 2013 03:36 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Major powers are ready to respond if Iran comes to February 26 nuclear talks prepared to discuss "real substance" and address questions about its nuclear program, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday. The powers - Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States - are scheduled to meet Iranian negotiators in Almaty, Kazakhstan, this month to see if there is a way to ease Western concerns about Iran's nuclear program. The United States and its allies suspect Iran is using its civilian program as a cover to develop nuclear weapons. ...

Assad's forces try to beat back rebels closing on Damascus Posted: 08 Feb 2013 03:29 PM PST AMMAN, Feb 8, Reuters - Syrian government forces battled on Friday to recapture sections of the Damascus ring road from rebels pressing in on the capital, opposition activists said. War planes fired rockets around Jobar, Qaboun and Barzeh neighborhoods, the sources said. Heavy fighting was taking place at the Hermalleh junction on the ring road just south of Jobar, which had been seized by the rebels. ...

French charge north in Mali, Bamako shooting kills two Posted: 08 Feb 2013 12:42 PM PST BAMAKO/GAO, Mali (Reuters) - French forces hunting Islamist rebels in northern Mali parachuted into a strategic town and took control on Friday, but a suicide bombing further south and the killing of two civilians by soldiers in the capital Bamako raised fresh security fears. In their hot pursuit of al Qaeda-allied militants in Mali's remote Saharan northeast, French special forces seized the town and airfield of Tessalit, about 50 km (30 miles) from the Algerian border. ...

Egyptian protesters clash with police after days of calm Posted: 08 Feb 2013 12:54 PM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptians marched and chanted against Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in cities across the country on Friday and several hundred attacked the presidential palace with petrol bombs and rocks. At least 126 people were hurt in unrest in various provinces, state media said, while two officers and three soldiers of the Republican Guard were wounded in clashes. Protests erupted last month over what demonstrators saw as Mursi's attempts to monopolize power as well as wider political and economic grievances. ...

Violence mars funeral of Tunisian opposition leader Posted: 08 Feb 2013 10:17 AM PST TUNIS (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Tunisians turned out on Friday to mourn secular opposition leader Chokri Belaid, whose assassination has deepened a political crisis and led to violent protests against the Islamist-led government. Teargas and smoke from burning cars at times wafted over the Tunis cemetery where Belaid was buried in the country's biggest funeral since independence leader Habib Bourguiba died in 2000. ...

France plays down report of ransom paid for Niger hostages Posted: 08 Feb 2013 12:27 PM PST PARIS (Reuters) - France brushed off an allegation by a former U.S. diplomat that it paid a $17 million ransom, in vain, for the release of four hostages abducted in 2010 from Niger, a charge that contradicts the government's stated no-negotiation policy. The U.S. ambassador to Mali from 2002 to 2005, Vicki Huddleston, told iTele in an interview broadcast on Friday that the ransom paid by France took a circuitous route before landing in the hands of al Qaeda's north African unit AQIM. ...

Angolan court rejects opposition complaint on sovereign fund Posted: 08 Feb 2013 02:40 PM PST LISBON (Reuters) - Angola's constitutional court on Friday rejected a claim by an opposition party that President Jose Eduardo dos Santos had overstepped his powers to create the country's $5 billion sovereign wealth fund. Angola launched the fund last October to invest in domestic and overseas assets by funneling the country's vast oil wealth into infrastructure, hotels and other high-growth projects. Dos Santos has been accused of avoiding public scrutiny during his 33 years in power. ...

Britain condemns "criminal" horsemeat scandal Posted: 08 Feb 2013 12:36 PM PST LONDON (Reuters) - The British government accused unknown criminals for a growing scandal of horsemeat being sold in imported beef products that has generated shock headlines in a country where many recoil in horror at the very idea of eating horses. Prime Minister David Cameron assured consumers on Friday there was no health risk from a product considered a delicacy in France and Italy. But, as the furor saps public confidence in food labeling and hygiene supervision, he called it "completely unacceptable", and his office condemned "acts of criminality". ...

Canadian officer who spied for Russia jailed for 20 years Posted: 08 Feb 2013 12:17 PM PST HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (Reuters) - A Canadian naval officer who handed over secrets to Russia for more than four years, damaging Canada's relations with the United States and other key allies, was jailed for 20 years on Friday. Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Delisle, dressed in a blue hooded sweatshirt and jeans, showed no reaction when found guilty of breach of trust and handing information to a foreign entity that could harm national interests. He was also fined C$111,817, the sum he received from his Russian spy masters. ...

Syrian rebels preparing for advance on capital Posted: 08 Feb 2013 12:28 PM PST BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian rebels brought their fight within a mile of the heart of Damascus on Friday, seizing army checkpoints and cutting a key highway with a row of burning tires as they pressed their campaign for the heavily guarded capital, considered the likely endgame in the nearly 2-year-old civil war.

Ex-US envoy: $17M French ransom funded al-Qaida Posted: 08 Feb 2013 08:36 AM PST PARIS (AP) — A former U.S. ambassador to Mali has alleged that France paid a $17 million ransom to free hostages seized from a French mining site — cash she said ultimately funded the al-Qaida-linked Islamist militants its troops are now fighting. French officials, whose soldiers are pushing north into the territory where the missing captives are believed to be held, denied paying any ransoms.

Locals: Mali suicide bomber tied to terror leader Posted: 08 Feb 2013 10:55 AM PST GAO, Mali (AP) — A young militant who locals say had ties with terror leader Moktar Belmoktar blew himself up Friday near a military checkpoint on the outskirts of Gao, fueling fears of a looming insurgency by the jihadists who fled into the nearby desert just two weeks ago.

Gunmen kill Nigeria women giving polio vaccines Posted: 08 Feb 2013 11:00 AM PST KANO, Nigeria (AP) — Gunmen suspected of belonging to a radical Islamic sect shot and killed at least nine women who were taking part in a polio vaccination drive in northern Nigeria on Friday, highlighting the religious tensions surrounding the inoculation of children in one of the few nations where the disease still remains endemic.

EU leaders agree to $1.28 trillion 7-year budget Posted: 08 Feb 2013 10:49 AM PST BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders agreed Friday to a significantly reduced 7-year budget worth €960 billion ($1.28 trillion) — the first cut in spending in the 27-country group's history.

NATO rejects UN report on death of Afghan children Posted: 08 Feb 2013 10:19 AM PST KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.S.-led international coalition on Friday rejected a U.N. rights group's concern about reports that U.S. military strikes have killed hundreds of children in Afghanistan during the past four years, saying they are "categorically unfounded."

Accused witch burned alive in Papua New Guinea Posted: 08 Feb 2013 02:56 PM PST PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (AP) — A mob stripped, tortured and bound a woman accused of witchcraft, then burned her alive in front of hundreds of horrified witnesses in a Papua New Guinea town, police said. It was the latest sorcery-related killing in this South Pacific island nation.

Saga of speeding politician rivets Britain Posted: 08 Feb 2013 06:18 AM PST LONDON (AP) — It was just a speeding ticket.

Rare Afghan fashion show seeks to empower women Posted: 08 Feb 2013 12:55 PM PST KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan models paraded down a candle-lined catwalk Friday as men and women watched from the audience in a restaurant off a muddy street in Kabul.

As Carnival fever seizes Rio, some seek escape Posted: 08 Feb 2013 10:21 AM PST RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — As samba queens get final touch-ups on their sequins and feathers and hundreds of thousands of revelers take command of Rio's streets for Carnival's opening on Friday, Leo Name is hunkering down. The self-avowed Carnival Scrooge has stocked up on frozen TV dinners and hopes he won't have to set foot outside his apartment during the five days of festivities.

EU leaders approve budget, and everyone wins - at least politically Posted: 08 Feb 2013 10:40 AM PST After a vigorous all-nighter of horse-trading, European Union leaders in Brussels overcame what appeared to be unsalvageable differences and on Friday approved a 960 billion euro ($1.3 trillion), seven-year budget for the 27-member block.

Trumpeting its technological strength, Iran releases video from downed US drone Posted: 08 Feb 2013 10:28 AM PST Iran claims to have decrypted the brain of a CIA stealth drone it captured in late 2011, and has published video it says is extracted from its data banks.

TV drama? Putin rips Sochi official on air over Olympic cost overruns Posted: 08 Feb 2013 07:49 AM PST Vladimir Putin marked the one-year countdown to the Sochi winter Games, to which he has pegged his personal prestige, by throwing a televised fit of temper and dressing down a top Olympic official, who was subsequently fired.

Irish beef avoids EU budget chop. Is agricultural subsidy reform on the menu? Posted: 08 Feb 2013 07:22 AM PST As negotiations at the EU budget summit enter their second and final day, Irish farmers and others in Europe's agricultural community are breathing sighs of relief.

Palestinian textbooks fall short where they are most needed - introducing 'the other' Posted: 08 Feb 2013 06:37 AM PST Malak Mahmoud has never met an Israeli in her life and she hopes she never will – not even an Israeli child her age.

Tunisians mourn slain opposition leader amid concerns of rising turmoil Posted: 08 Feb 2013 06:09 AM PST • A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

Thang Dinh Tran loves maps and Vietnam. That may put him in the eye of a storm. Posted: 08 Feb 2013 05:00 AM PST In 1995 Thang Dinh Tran invited an expert on traditional Vietnamese music to give a talk at the University of Connecticut (UConn). That summer, the distinguished Tran Van Khe, who taught at the Sorbonne University in Paris, visited the UConn campus.

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