Yahoo! News: World News

---

• Turkey seeks negotiated end to anti-government protests
• Deal to remove Northern Ireland sectarian walls precedes G8 meet
• Chinese dissident to leave New York University shortly
• Obama considers Syria moves, Assad turns guns on north
• Iran vote could bring change of style, perhaps not substance
• TV channel offices attacked in Libya's Benghazi
• Want proof that NSA snooping thwarts terror plots? Stand by, senator says
• Secret NSA program could have 'derailed' 9/11 attacks, FBI director says
• Hillary Clinton makes a splash in Chicago, but not an overtly political one
• Obama, in surprise move, wades into NYPD 'stop and frisk' lawsuit
• Iran liberals ask: Snub election or take chance?
• Turkish PM meets with protesters after warning
• UN says nearly 93,000 killed in Syrian civil war
• Gaza suffers drop in foreign aid over Syrian war
• Egypt says citizens free to join fight in Syria
• AP PHOTOS: UN says 93,000 killed in Syrian war
• Nicaragua approves massive canal project
• Nicaraguan assembly OKs $40 billion Chinese canal to rival Panama's
• Syria rebels want 'effective' arms after U.S. statement
• FBI says U.S. will hold Snowden responsible for NSA leaks
• Argentine train wreck kills 3, injures hundreds
• U.N. says more accountability needed on Afghanistan's Kabulbank scandal
• 7 years in prison for Argentine ex-leader Menem
• Britain says evidence growing that Assad using chemical weapons
• U.S. accuses Assad on chemical weapons, plans military aid to rebels
• Explosion at Louisiana chemical plant kills 1, injures 73
• U.S. to give Syrian opposition more military support: White House
• Senate rejects Republican effort to gut immigration bill
• Anti-G8 protests aim for London's Canary Wharf banking district
• UN: World population to reach 8.1 billion in 2025
• U.S. concludes Assad's forces used chemical weapons in Syria
• Turkish PM issues ultimatum, will meet protesters
• Kuwait parliament condemns sectarian rhetoric over Syria

Turkey seeks negotiated end to anti-government protests Posted: 13 Jun 2013 03:47 PM PDT By Daren Butler and Humeyra Pamuk ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and the governor of Istanbul made what appeared to be final efforts to end two weeks of anti-government unrest by negotiation on Friday, meeting opponents of controversial plans to redevelop a city park. Erdogan met a delegation mostly made up of actors and artists but also including two members of the umbrella protest group Taksim Solidarity, hours after saying his patience had run out and warning protesters occupying Gezi Park to leave. ...

Deal to remove Northern Ireland sectarian walls precedes G8 meet Posted: 13 Jun 2013 04:12 PM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - Britain and Northern Ireland will unveil an agreement on Friday aimed at removing physical walls separating Catholic and Protestant communities in the British province over the next 10 years. The agreement comes as Northern Ireland, which along with Britain is part of the United Kingdom, will be the setting next week for a meeting of the world's eight major economies (G8). The meeting will be chaired by British Prime Minister David Cameron, who is hoping to use it to attract investment to the economically struggling province. ...

Chinese dissident to leave New York University shortly Posted: 13 Jun 2013 03:21 PM PDT By Jonathan Allen NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, who left his home country last year and became a visiting scholar at New York University, will leave the school this summer but will likely remain in the United States, university officials said on Thursday. Chen made international headlines last year when he escaped house arrest in China's Shandong province, after campaigning for farmers and disabled citizens and exposing forced abortions in China. Chen spent 20 hours on the run before finding refuge at the U.S. ...

Obama considers Syria moves, Assad turns guns on north Posted: 13 Jun 2013 12:22 PM PDT By Erika Solomon BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama is deciding whether to take new action to help Syria's rebels, the White House said on Thursday, while President Bashar al-Assad's surging forces and their Lebanese Hezbollah allies turned their guns on the north. Assad's forces fought near the northern city of Aleppo on Thursday and bombarded the central city of Homs, having seized the initiative by winning the open backing of Hezbollah last month and capturing the strategic town of Qusair last week. ...

Iran vote could bring change of style, perhaps not substance Posted: 13 Jun 2013 04:12 PM PDT DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran votes on Friday in a presidential election unlikely to result in seismic shifts in its troubled relations with the West and Gulf Arab neighbors, but which could bring a softening of the confrontational style personified by outgoing president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. World powers embroiled in talks with Iran over its nuclear program are looking for signs of a recalibration of its negotiating position after eight years of intransigence under fiery populist Ahmadinejad. ...

TV channel offices attacked in Libya's Benghazi Posted: 13 Jun 2013 04:34 PM PDT BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - A bomb exploded outside a television station in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Thursday, damaging a wall but causing no injuries, an employee said. The blast also created a large whole in the ground outside the Libya al-Hurra TV channel. Security officials were sent to secure the area. "We just heard a loud explosion and came outside to see. The front gate is damaged. We believe it was a bomb," the employee told Reuters, adding that it was unclear how the attack was carried out. ...

Want proof that NSA snooping thwarts terror plots? Stand by, senator says Posted: 13 Jun 2013 04:17 PM PDT Americans will soon be able to judge for themselves the merits of National Security Agency programs to vacuum up massive amounts of digital data, because intelligence officials hope to declassify terrorist attacks thwarted by the controversial data-mining systems as early as Monday, the Senate's top lawmaker on intelligence issues said Thursday.

Secret NSA program could have 'derailed' 9/11 attacks, FBI director says Posted: 13 Jun 2013 04:08 PM PDT Had the National Security Agency's secret phone-monitoring program been in place prior to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, it probably would have prevented them.

Hillary Clinton makes a splash in Chicago, but not an overtly political one Posted: 13 Jun 2013 03:41 PM PDT She is the Illinois girl made good, after all, and so perhaps it's a natural that Hillary Rodham Clinton chose Chicago for her first policy speech since leaving the State Department.

Obama, in surprise move, wades into NYPD 'stop and frisk' lawsuit Posted: 13 Jun 2013 03:09 PM PDT The New York Police Department's controversial "stop and frisk" policy received a kick in the shins this week, when the Obama administration took the unusual step of outlining its preferred remedy in the event a federal judge examining the NYPD tactic rules it to be unconstitutional.

Iran liberals ask: Snub election or take chance? Posted: 13 Jun 2013 01:17 PM PDT TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — In the end, Iran's presidential election may be defined by who doesn't vote.

Turkish PM meets with protesters after warning Posted: 13 Jun 2013 03:50 PM PDT ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey's prime minister was meeting with anti-government protesters early Friday, hours after giving them his "final warning" to end their occupation of a central Istanbul park that has become a flashpoint for the largest political crisis of his 10-year rule.

UN says nearly 93,000 killed in Syrian civil war Posted: 13 Jun 2013 04:52 PM PDT BEIRUT (AP) — Syrians are being killed at an average rate of 5,000 per month, the U.N. said Thursday as it raised the overall death toll in the civil war to nearly 93,000, with civilians bearing the brunt of the attacks.

Gaza suffers drop in foreign aid over Syrian war Posted: 13 Jun 2013 01:01 PM PDT GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A refugee from Syria recently opened a bakery here, drawing long lines of customers eager to taste meat and cheese pastries with the special flavors of Damascus — a rare bright spot in the long shadow that the Syrian civil war is casting over the Gaza Strip.

Egypt says citizens free to join fight in Syria Posted: 13 Jun 2013 01:30 PM PDT CAIRO (AP) — A senior official in Egypt's presidency said Thursday that Egyptians are free to join the fight in Syria and will not be prosecuted upon return amid increasingly public calls by leading clerics for Sunni Muslims to back the rebels there with firepower.

AP PHOTOS: UN says 93,000 killed in Syrian war Posted: 13 Jun 2013 06:57 AM PDT As the civil war in Syria rages on, the United Nations' human rights office now says almost 93,000 people have died in the conflict. A new analysis of the Syrian death toll documented 92,901 killings between March 2011 and the end of April 2013. But the U.N.'s top human rights official, Navi Pillay, says it is impossible to provide an exact current figure, which may be far higher. Among the victims are at least 6,561 children, including 1,729 children younger than 10.

Nicaragua approves massive canal project Posted: 13 Jun 2013 04:46 PM PDT MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — A proposal to build a massive rival to the Panama Canal across the middle of Nicaragua was overwhelmingly backed by lawmakers Thursday, capping a lightning-fast approval process that has provoked deep skepticism among shipping experts and concern among environmentalists.

Nicaraguan assembly OKs $40 billion Chinese canal to rival Panama's Posted: 13 Jun 2013 04:30 PM PDT By Ivan Castro MANAGUA (Reuters) - Nicaraguan lawmakers granted a 50-year concession to a Chinese company on Thursday for it to design, build and manage a shipping channel across the Central American nation that would compete with the Panama Canal. The $40 billion proposal by HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co Ltd's (HKND Group) calls for linking Nicaragua's Caribbean and Pacific coasts and includes plans for two free-trade zones, a railway, an oil pipeline and airports. ...

Syria rebels want 'effective' arms after U.S. statement Posted: 13 Jun 2013 04:04 PM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebel and political opposition leaders called on Friday for anti-aircraft and other sophisticated weapons after the United States said it would boost military support to President Bashar al-Assad's foes. "(They) need to provide effective military assistance to take the necessary steps to prevent the criminal regime from using chemical weapons," Brigadier-General Selim Idris, a rebel commander, told Al-Arabiya Television. ...

FBI says U.S. will hold Snowden responsible for NSA leaks Posted: 13 Jun 2013 04:00 PM PDT By David Ingram and Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - FBI Director Robert Mueller said on Thursday that authorities would move aggressively to track down Edward Snowden and hold him accountable for leaking the details of extensive and top-secret U.S. surveillance efforts. Mueller confirmed that a criminal investigation had been launched into the leaks and said public reports about the National Security Agency's efforts to monitor Internet and phone data had hurt U.S. national security. ...

Argentine train wreck kills 3, injures hundreds Posted: 13 Jun 2013 03:55 PM PDT BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A speeding commuter train slammed into another that had stopped between stations during the morning commute Thursday in suburban Buenos Aires, killing three passengers and injuring more than 300 on a line that has been under government control since a deadly crash last year.

U.N. says more accountability needed on Afghanistan's Kabulbank scandal Posted: 13 Jun 2013 03:51 PM PDT By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - More people must be held accountable for the 2010 collapse of Afghanistan's Kabulbank and robust action on asset recovery and financial regulation is essential to ease foreign donor worries and ensure continued aid, the United Nations said on Thursday. An Afghan court sentenced 20 men in March, including the bank's founder and chief executive, to between four and five years in jail after $935 million was stolen from what was then the country's biggest bank. In a report to the U.N. Security Council, U.N. ...

7 years in prison for Argentine ex-leader Menem Posted: 13 Jun 2013 03:46 PM PDT BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Former President Carlos Menem was sentenced to seven years in prison Thursday for illegally smuggling weapons to Ecuador and Croatia in violation of international embargoes in the 1990s, but he won't be going to jail soon.

Britain says evidence growing that Assad using chemical weapons Posted: 13 Jun 2013 03:44 PM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Thursday there was a growing body of evidence showing that the President Bashar al-Assad had used and was continuing to use chemical weapons. "There is a growing body persuasive evidence showing that the regime used - and continues to use - chemical weapons, including sarin," a spokesman for the Foreign Office said. "The room for doubt continues to diminish. Assad must grant the UN investigation unrestricted access to investigate on the ground in Syria and establish the full facts. ...

U.S. accuses Assad on chemical weapons, plans military aid to rebels Posted: 13 Jun 2013 03:34 PM PDT By Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has concluded that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces used chemical weapons against rebel fighters in Syria and President Barack Obama has decided to supply direct military assistance to the Syrian opposition, the White House said on Thursday. The new intelligence assessment, which followed Obama's demand for conclusive proof that chemical weapons had been deployed, could put pressure on Washington to respond aggressively to the crossing of what Obama himself had called a "red line. ...

Explosion at Louisiana chemical plant kills 1, injures 73 Posted: 13 Jun 2013 03:29 PM PDT By Jonathan Bachman GEISMAR, Louisiana (Reuters) - An explosion and fire killed one person and injured 73 at the Williams Olefins chemical plant in Geismar, Louisiana, on Thursday, unsettling an industrial town where authorities ordered people to remain indoors for hours to avoid the billowing smoke. The blast at 8:37 a.m. (0937 ET) sent a huge fireball and column of smoke into the air. The plant along the Mississippi River, about 60 miles from New Orleans, is one of 12 chemical plants along a 10-mile (16-km) stretch of the river. ...

U.S. to give Syrian opposition more military support: White House Posted: 13 Jun 2013 03:13 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is boosting military support to the main Syrian rebel group after determining that the government has used chemical weapons against the opposition, a top White House official said on Thursday. "The president has made a decision about providing more support to the opposition, that will involve providing direct support to the (Supreme Military Council), that includes military support," Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes told reporters on a conference call. ...

Senate rejects Republican effort to gut immigration bill Posted: 13 Jun 2013 03:05 PM PDT By Thomas Ferraro and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A landmark immigration bill survived a major challenge in the Senate on Thursday when its bipartisan "Gang of Eight" sponsors beat back an amendment that would have delayed a pathway to citizenship for 11 million illegal residents. The proposal by Iowa Republican Charles Grassley would have prohibited a first step toward granting them legal status until the U.S. Department of Homeland Security "has maintained effective control" of the entire U.S.-Mexico border - 1,969 miles - for a period of six months. ...

Anti-G8 protests aim for London's Canary Wharf banking district Posted: 13 Jun 2013 03:04 PM PDT By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Activists plan a show of "civil disobedience" in the heart of London's Canary Wharf financial district on Friday to protest against capitalism ahead of next week's G8 summit which Britain is hosting. Environmentalists, poverty campaigners and opponents of the British government's austerity measures will join under the banner "They Owe Us" in a demonstration at Canary Wharf, home to major banks such as Barclays and JP Morgan, as well as other financial powerhouses. ...

UN: World population to reach 8.1 billion in 2025 Posted: 13 Jun 2013 02:56 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations forecast Thursday that the world's population will increase from 7.2 billion today to 8.1 billion in 2025, with most growth in developing countries and more than half in Africa. By 2050, it will reach 9.6 billion.

U.S. concludes Assad's forces used chemical weapons in Syria Posted: 13 Jun 2013 02:31 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces used chemical weapons on a small scale against rebel fighters in Syria's civil war, the White House said on Thursday. The assessment, which followed President Barack Obama's demand for conclusive proof after U.S. intelligence analysts determined earlier this year that chemical weapons had likely been used, could put pressure on Washington to respond aggressively to the crossing of what Obama himself had called a "red line. ...

Turkish PM issues ultimatum, will meet protesters Posted: 13 Jun 2013 02:19 PM PDT ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey's prime minister issued a "final warning" to protesters on Thursday, demanding they end their occupation of a park next to Istanbul's Taksim Square that has ignited the largest political crisis of his 10-year rule.

Kuwait parliament condemns sectarian rhetoric over Syria Posted: 13 Jun 2013 02:11 PM PDT KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait's parliament on Thursday condemned attempts to use the crisis in Syria to stoke sectarian tensions, calling for the government to crack down on "extremist behavior" and rhetoric in the Gulf Arab state. The statement appeared to be a response to an anti-Hezbollah demonstration outside the Lebanese Embassy in Kuwait on Tuesday where a Sunni Muslim cleric gave a fiery speech against the involvement of the Lebanese Shi'ite group in Syria's civil war. ...

You are subscribed to email updates from World News Headlines - Yahoo! News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610