Yahoo! News: World News

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• North Korean nuclear test draws anger, including from China
• Vatican plans big send off for pope, consultations begin
• Syrian air base falls, Assad forces under pressure
• U.N. Security Council to back Mali peacekeepers in weeks
• British police mount raid as horsemeat scandal widens
• Cuba tones down Castro's positive words on Chavez health
• Egypt activist Gendi died after car crash, not torture: doctor
• Afghanistan can't handle direct aid, U.S. watchdog says
• U.S. concerned at "climate of impunity" in Egypt
• Berlusconi ally in trouble before Italy vote
• North Korea conducts third controversial nuke test
• NKorea brandishing nukes to get US to talk peace
• And they're off: Papal campaigning gets under way
• Vatican sends message: Pope's retirement for real
• UK food agency raids abattoir in horsemeat scandal
• Egypt women protest sex assault at site of attacks
• Mexican 'ape woman' buried after 150 years
• Soccer faces epic fight against match-fixing
• French Assembly passes gay marriage, adoption bill
• AP PHOTOS: Fat Tuesday celebrated around the world
• How does the Vatican elect a new pope? 7 things to know about a conclave
• Russians may end up with a web vetted by The League for Internet Safety
• Good Reads: A family in isolation, Pakistan's difficult present, Africa's biggest game
• Is Iran's Ahmadinejad going rogue as his term ends?
• African heritage in Latin America
• Brazil's affirmative action law offers a huge hand up
• Two years later, Egyptians' euphoria over Mubarak's fall a distant memory
• North Korea tests third nuclear device, prompting emergency UN meeting

North Korean nuclear test draws anger, including from China Posted: 12 Feb 2013 02:08 PM PST SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea conducted its third nuclear test on Tuesday in defiance of U.N. resolutions, drawing condemnation from around the world, including from its only major ally, China, which summoned the North Korean ambassador to protest. Pyongyang said the test was an act of self-defense against "U.S. hostility" and threatened stronger steps if necessary. The test puts pressure on U.S. ...

Vatican plans big send off for pope, consultations begin Posted: 12 Feb 2013 11:28 AM PST VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Cardinals around the world began informal contacts to discuss who should next lead the Church through a period of major crisis and the Vatican said it planned a big send-off for Pope Benedict before he becomes the first pontiff in centuries to resign. At a Tuesday news conference on how the pope plans to spend the next two weeks before he steps out of the limelight, the Vatican also disclosed that the 85-year-old Benedict has been wearing a pacemaker since before he was elected pope in 2005. ...

Syrian air base falls, Assad forces under pressure Posted: 12 Feb 2013 01:06 PM PST AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian opposition fighters captured a military airport near the northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday in another military setback for President Bashar al-Assad's forces which have come under intensifying attack across the country. The airport is the latest military facility to fall under rebel control in a strategic region situated between Syria's industrial and commercial center and the country's oil- and wheat-producing heartland to the east. ...

U.N. Security Council to back Mali peacekeepers in weeks Posted: 12 Feb 2013 04:15 PM PST DUBLIN (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council is expected to reach an agreement in two to three weeks to deploy up to 6,000 peacekeepers in Mali to help stabilize the country after a rebel incursion, a senior U.N. official said on Tuesday. The 15-nation council initially appeared reluctant to send its own blue-helmeted peacekeepers to the West African nation, and instead backed an African-led force that was due to deploy later this year. ...

British police mount raid as horsemeat scandal widens Posted: 12 Feb 2013 01:19 PM PST LONDON (Reuters) - British police and regulators raided a slaughterhouse and a meat processor on Tuesday suspected of selling horsemeat as beef, expanding a Europe-wide scandal that has shocked consumers and exposed flawed food safety controls. In Paris, French prosecutors opened a preliminary judicial investigation to determine whether fraud was committed in the growing scandal. The prosecutor's office said a judicial inquiry had been opened in the northeastern city of Metz on Monday, but subsequently it was transferred to Paris, where national issues of food security are investigated. ...

Cuba tones down Castro's positive words on Chavez health Posted: 12 Feb 2013 11:10 AM PST HAVANA (Reuters) - More than a week after former leader Fidel Castro was quoted in Cuban media as saying Venezuela's cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez was "much better," the Communist Party newspaper published a different, toned down version of his comments on Tuesday. The transcript in Granma, said to have been "reviewed and updated" by Castro, left out the more positive assessments of Chavez' condition, but did say he was recovering. ...

Egypt activist Gendi died after car crash, not torture: doctor Posted: 12 Feb 2013 02:32 PM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian activist whose death provoked violent protests was killed in a car crash and was not tortured to death by police, a senior forensic official said on Tuesday. Fellow campaigners had said Mohamed el-Gendi, 23, was rounded up along with other youth protesters on January 25, the second anniversary of the start of the Egyptian revolt against autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Security sources said he was taken to a state security camp, interrogated and tortured, drawing parallels with the brutal tactics used by Mubarak's henchmen during his rule. ...

Afghanistan can't handle direct aid, U.S. watchdog says Posted: 12 Feb 2013 03:34 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Afghanistan's government does not appear able to manage the large amounts of direct aid that the United States and other countries have pledged, the U.S. watchdog monitoring funds spent on Afghan reconstruction said. John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction, raised a red flag over U.S. plans to give Kabul billions of dollars more in direct aid instead of providing assistance through contractors and non-governmental organizations operating on behalf of the American government. ...

U.S. concerned at "climate of impunity" in Egypt Posted: 12 Feb 2013 09:23 AM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - The United States expressed concern on Tuesday about growing political polarization in its major ally Egypt and a "climate of impunity" over abuses by police and security forces in the most populous Arab nation. At a news conference after a four-day visit, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights, Democracy and Labour Michael Posner avoided direct criticism of the Muslim Brotherhood-led government of President Mohamed Mursi. ...

Berlusconi ally in trouble before Italy vote Posted: 12 Feb 2013 11:57 AM PST MILAN (Reuters) - Italian prosecutors accused the former governor of Lombardy, a once-powerful ally of Silvio Berlusconi, of criminal conspiracy after they completed a corruption investigation on Tuesday, less than two weeks before a national election. The scandal could damage Berlusconi's People of Liberty (PDL) party in a powerful swing region, one of the most important battlegrounds in the race for the February 24-25 election. ...

North Korea conducts third controversial nuke test Posted: 12 Feb 2013 12:35 PM PST PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Defying U.N. warnings, North Korea on Tuesday conducted its third nuclear test in the remote, snowy northeast, taking a crucial step toward its goal of building a bomb small enough to be fitted on a missile capable of striking the United States.

NKorea brandishing nukes to get US to talk peace Posted: 12 Feb 2013 04:38 PM PST SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The way North Korea sees it, only bigger weapons and more threatening provocations will force Washington to come to the table to discuss what Pyongyang says it really wants: peace.

And they're off: Papal campaigning gets under way Posted: 12 Feb 2013 04:51 PM PST VATICAN CITY (AP) — It's a political campaign like no other, with no declared candidates or front-runners and a strict taboo against openly gunning for the job. But the maneuvering is already under way, with one African contender declaring Tuesday it was time for a pope from the developing world — and he was free if God wanted him.

Vatican sends message: Pope's retirement for real Posted: 12 Feb 2013 03:42 PM PST VATICAN CITY (AP) — The papal ring will be destroyed, along with other powerful emblems of authority, just as they are after a pope's death. The retiring Pope Benedict XVI will live in a monastery on the edge of the Vatican gardens and will likely even give up his beloved theological writing.

UK food agency raids abattoir in horsemeat scandal Posted: 12 Feb 2013 01:50 PM PST LONDON (AP) — British authorities on Tuesday raided a slaughterhouse and a meat processing company suspected of selling horsemeat labeled as beef for kebabs and burgers, shutting them down temporarily and seizing all the meat found.

Egypt women protest sex assault at site of attacks Posted: 12 Feb 2013 12:25 PM PST CAIRO (AP) — Washington's envoy on human rights cautioned Tuesday against the failure of Egypt's government to identify the perpetrators behind a growing number of gruesome attacks against female protesters, as nearly 1,000 women gathered in Cairo to denounce the recent sexual assaults.

Mexican 'ape woman' buried after 150 years Posted: 12 Feb 2013 04:27 PM PST SINALOA DE LEYVA, Mexico (AP) — An indigenous Mexican woman put on display in Victorian-era Europe because of a rare genetic condition that covered her face in thick hair has been buried in her home state in a ceremony that ends one of the best-known episodes from an era when live human beings were treated as collectible specimens.

Soccer faces epic fight against match-fixing Posted: 12 Feb 2013 08:32 AM PST ZURICH (AP) — Soccer is falling under a cloud of suspicion as never before, sullied by a multibillion-dollar web of match-fixing that is corrupting increasingly larger parts of the world's most popular sport.

French Assembly passes gay marriage, adoption bill Posted: 12 Feb 2013 10:11 AM PST PARIS (AP) — France's lower house of parliament approved a sweeping bill on Tuesday to legalize gay marriage and allow same-sex couples to adopt children, handing a major legislative victory to President Francois Hollande's Socialists on a divisive social issue.

AP PHOTOS: Fat Tuesday celebrated around the world Posted: 12 Feb 2013 02:27 PM PST From sequin-drenched samba parades in Rio de Janeiro to cascades of Mardi Gras beads on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, revelers gathered to dance until dawn at Fat Tuesday celebrations. The Roman Catholic period of Lent begins on Wednesday and Fat Tuesday marks the end of the carnival festivities that lead to the solemn season.

How does the Vatican elect a new pope? 7 things to know about a conclave Posted: 12 Feb 2013 02:34 PM PST Following Pope Benedict XVI's surprising announcement Monday that he will resign from the papacy on Feb. 28, the first pope to do so in more than 600 years, the Vatican is preparing to elect his successor.

Russians may end up with a web vetted by The League for Internet Safety Posted: 12 Feb 2013 09:51 AM PST Russia's vast and freewheeling Internet, known as Ru.net, is facing stepped up official and semi-official efforts to rein it in.

Good Reads: A family in isolation, Pakistan's difficult present, Africa's biggest game Posted: 12 Feb 2013 09:41 AM PST In 1978, a group of Soviet geologists trying to land their helicopter in the taiga (thick wilderness) of remote Siberia saw startling evidence of human life. Soon they found the Lykov family – who had been living in an encampment for more than 40 years with no contact with the outside world.

Is Iran's Ahmadinejad going rogue as his term ends? Posted: 12 Feb 2013 08:40 AM PST Embedded in Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's rhetoric of Iran's soaring greatness and the collapse of the West – typical themes on the Islamic Republic's 34th birthday party – was a renewed political challenge to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and lesser pillars of the regime, as Iran prepares for presidential elections in June.

African heritage in Latin America Posted: 12 Feb 2013 06:48 AM PST For tourists who roam the cobblestone streets of Colombia's colonial city of Cartagena, black women in bright dresses carrying mounds of fresh tropical fruit or coconut sweets in aluminum bowls on their heads offer a colorful vacation snapshot.

Brazil's affirmative action law offers a huge hand up Posted: 12 Feb 2013 06:48 AM PST Thaiana Rodrigues, the daughter of an esthetician in Rio de Janeiro, tried to get into college three times. But having spent most of her childhood in poor public schools – her anatomy teacher in seventh grade never showed up to class so she simply never learned the subject – Ms. Rodrigues was unable to pass the entrance exam.

Two years later, Egyptians' euphoria over Mubarak's fall a distant memory Posted: 12 Feb 2013 06:06 AM PST • A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

North Korea tests third nuclear device, prompting emergency UN meeting Posted: 12 Feb 2013 05:56 AM PST Despite strong international opposition, even from ally and benefactor China, North Korea on Tuesday tested its third nuclear device, prompting an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.

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