Yahoo! News: World News

---

• Tens of thousands rally to oust Tunisian government
• Syria rebels strike Assad's Alawite stronghold, seize airport
• U.S. flies some diplomats out of Yemen, tells citizens to leave
• Bombs target Iraqi shoppers, killing more than 50
• Egyptian government to say mediation failed to end crisis
• Japan PM to call for stronger response to Fukushima water crisis: Nikkei
• Bomb at soccer field kills 7 in southern Pakistan
• U.S. Senator McCain, in Cairo, says Egypt near 'all-out bloodshed'
• In Egypt, U.S. Senators Label Morsi’s Ousting a ‘Coup’ as Tension and Confusion Reigns
• Egypt army chief shows political agility in crisis
• Australia's opposition promises company tax cut in election race
• Egypt bristles as US pols urge freeing prisoners
• Mexico energy reform due this week, debate over contracts
• Yemen again at forefront of fight against terror
• Sudan ejects U.N. refugee agency staff from North Darfur
• Python's strangling of 2 boys in Canada probed
• US embassy closures a window into threat concern
• Son of former Saudi crown prince named deputy defense minister
• Most Israelis object to withdrawing to pre-1967 borders: poll
• No ties? No problem as China courts Taiwan's remaining allies
• Can Iran’s New U.S.-Educated Foreign Minister Mend Ties with Washington?
• 9 Mexicans win first step in asylum claim
• Wildfire rages overnight near Athens
• Tribesmen shoot down Yemeni army helicopter, nine dead
• U.S. military judge trims potential sentence in WikiLeaks case
• Car bomb near Damascus kills 18; rebels take base
• US Consulate in Milan evacuated after bomb threat
• Car bomb kills at least 18 people in Damascus: state media
• Tunisian police kill Islamist militant in suburb of capital
• Egypt to say foreign mediation has failed to end crisis
• US senators urge release of Egypt's Islamists
• George W. Bush receives stent for blocked heart artery
• Panic in Yemen: Terrorist Threat Shutters U.S. and U.K. Embassies
• Iran's leader reaches out to U.S., vows to resolve nuclear row
• Protesters in Mali's north demand prisoner release

Tens of thousands rally to oust Tunisian government Posted: 06 Aug 2013 04:43 PM PDT By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Tunisians crowded the streets of downtown Tunis on Tuesday to demand the transitional government's ouster, in the largest opposition protest since the country's political crisis began two weeks ago. The secular opposition, angered by two assassinations in its ranks and emboldened by the army-backed toppling of Egypt's Islamist president, is trying to topple Tunisia's Islamist-led government and dissolve the Constituent Assembly. ...

Syria rebels strike Assad's Alawite stronghold, seize airport Posted: 06 Aug 2013 12:22 PM PDT By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Mariam Karouny AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian Islamist rebels have killed around 200 people in a three-day offensive in the mountain stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect and driven hundreds of villagers to seek refuge on the Mediterranean coast, activists said on Tuesday. Since launching the surprise assault at dawn on Sunday, the mainly Islamist rebel brigades led by two al Qaeda-linked groups have captured half a dozen villages on the northern edges of the Alawite mountain range, the activists say. ...

U.S. flies some diplomats out of Yemen, tells citizens to leave Posted: 06 Aug 2013 01:29 PM PDT By Mohammed Ghobari SANAA (Reuters) - The Air Force flew some U.S. diplomatic personnel out of Yemen on Tuesday and Washington told nationals to leave the country immediately after warnings of potential attacks that pushed the United States to shut missions across the Middle East. Yemen, one of the poorest Arab countries, is the base for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), one of the most active branches of the network founded by Osama bin Laden, and militants have launched attacks from there against the West. U.S. ...

Bombs target Iraqi shoppers, killing more than 50 Posted: 06 Aug 2013 01:40 PM PDT BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A series of car bombs targeting busy markets and shopping streets in and around Baghdad killed at least 51 people and wounded more than 100 on Tuesday, Iraqi medical and police sources said, part of a surge in violence in recent months. Insurgent attacks have multiplied in Iraq since the start of the year, with more than 1,000 people killed in July, the highest monthly death toll since 2008, according to the United Nations. ...

Egyptian government to say mediation failed to end crisis Posted: 06 Aug 2013 03:40 PM PDT By Maggie Fick and Shaimaa Fayed CAIRO (Reuters) - The chances for a negotiated end to Egypt's political crisis looked to have hit the rocks on Tuesday with the army-installed government reportedly ready to declare that foreign mediation efforts had failed. State-run Al-Ahram newspaper, citing official sources, said the government would make an announcement to that effect soon. It would also declare that Muslim Brotherhood protests against the army's overthrow of President Mohamed Mursi were non-peaceful - a signal that the government intends to end them by force. ...

Japan PM to call for stronger response to Fukushima water crisis: Nikkei Posted: 06 Aug 2013 03:33 PM PDT TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to call on Wednesday for a stronger response to try to stop highly radioactive water leaking into the ocean from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, the Nikkei newspaper reported. It also said the government would commit taxpayer money to halt the buildup of radioactive water at the plant. On Monday, an official from Japan's nuclear watchdog told Reuters the leakage had become an "emergency", adding that the operator of the plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), was struggling to contain the problem. ...

Bomb at soccer field kills 7 in southern Pakistan Posted: 06 Aug 2013 04:55 PM PDT ISLAMABAD (AP) — Police say a bomb blast at a soccer field in southern Pakistan has killed seven people and wounded more than 20.

U.S. Senator McCain, in Cairo, says Egypt near 'all-out bloodshed' Posted: 06 Aug 2013 04:51 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Unrest in Egypt could turn into "all-out bloodshed" in coming days if efforts to find a political solution fail, U.S. Senator John McCain warned on Tuesday during a visit to Cairo. "Oh my God, I didn't know it was this bad. These folks are just days or weeks away from all-out bloodshed," McCain said during an interview in Cairo with "CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley. ...

In Egypt, U.S. Senators Label Morsi’s Ousting a ‘Coup’ as Tension and Confusion Reigns Posted: 06 Aug 2013 04:38 PM PDT Cairo has always been a popular site to mediate the many disputes of the Middle East. A regional crossroads and the home of the Arab League, Egypt has hosted numerous rounds of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations as well as intra-Palestinian talks between rival factions Fatah and Hamas. In 2003, it served as the nerve center for last minute attempts by the Arab League and Gulf states to convince Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to seek exile ahead of the eventual US-led invasion.

Egypt army chief shows political agility in crisis Posted: 06 Aug 2013 04:09 PM PDT By Yasmine Saleh CAIRO (Reuters) - For a man who says he doesn't want to be president, Egypt's army chief is proving to be a skillful politician so far. Since he deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi on July 3, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has built on a web of contacts he began nurturing after his appointment as army chief last year. He has met everyone from top clerics to writers and youth activists through the crisis unleashed by Mursi's downfall, while juggling sensitive foreign relations with the United States, Europe and Arab allies. ...

Australia's opposition promises company tax cut in election race Posted: 06 Aug 2013 03:56 PM PDT CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's conservative opposition promised on Wednesday to cut the country's 30 percent company tax rate if it wins September elections, saying the move would boost business confidence and help support flagging economic growth. The conservatives, leading in opinion polls in an election race centered on jobs and management of the $1.5 trillion economy, said it would cut 1.5 percentage points off the tax, helping defray the cost of a new paid parental leave scheme for about 3,000 of the country's biggest companies. ...

Egypt bristles as US pols urge freeing prisoners Posted: 06 Aug 2013 03:45 PM PDT CAIRO (AP) — Two U.S. Senators came to Egypt Tuesday with a message for the country's new military-backed leaders: Release Islamist figures as a gesture to the Muslim Brotherhood or risk making "a huge mistake."

Mexico energy reform due this week, debate over contracts Posted: 06 Aug 2013 03:38 PM PDT By David Alire Garcia and Adriana Barrera MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said on Tuesday that his government will present its energy reform proposal this week, an overhaul aimed at luring more private capital to the oil, gas and electricity sectors to boost flagging output. The energy reform will be presented to the Congress and is a key plank of a wider economic overhaul designed to boost growth in Latin America's No. 2 economy to 6 percent a year, create jobs and lower energy costs. ...

Yemen again at forefront of fight against terror Posted: 06 Aug 2013 03:22 PM PDT SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen was thrust back into the forefront of the international fight against terrorism Tuesday when the U.S. and Britain evacuated embassy staff due to a threatened attack, a suspected U.S. drone killed four alleged members of al-Qaida, and militants shot down a Yemeni army helicopter.

Sudan ejects U.N. refugee agency staff from North Darfur Posted: 06 Aug 2013 03:20 PM PDT GENEVA (Reuters) - Sudan has ejected 20 United Nations staff working to help hundreds of thousands of people who have been uprooted by war in Darfur region, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Tuesday. Of UNHCR's 37 international staff in Darfur, 20 have not had their work permits renewed, UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told a regular U.N. briefing in Geneva. "Most of them were asked to leave at short notice in July. As a result we've been unable to effectively undertake our work there," she said. ...

Python's strangling of 2 boys in Canada probed Posted: 06 Aug 2013 03:18 PM PDT TORONTO (AP) — A 100-pound (45-kilogram) python blamed in the strangling deaths of two Canadian boys apparently escaped from its enclosure, slithered through a ventilation system and fell through the ceiling into the room where the young brothers were sleeping, authorities said Tuesday.

US embassy closures a window into threat concern Posted: 06 Aug 2013 02:56 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The map of closed American embassies — and those that remain open — in the Middle East and Africa provides a window into the Obama administration's concern about a potentially imminent al-Qaida terrorist attack on overseas U.S. interests.

Son of former Saudi crown prince named deputy defense minister Posted: 06 Aug 2013 02:44 PM PDT RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi King Abdullah appointed Prince Salman bin Sultan as deputy defense minister late on Tuesday in a move that strengthens his credentials for future high office in the world's top oil exporter. The move was made in a royal decree carried by state news agency SPA. It did not give a reason for the switch. Prince Salman is a deputy head of the national security council, was born in 1976 and is a son of the late Crown Prince Sultan, a veteran defense minister until his death in 2011. ...

Most Israelis object to withdrawing to pre-1967 borders: poll Posted: 06 Aug 2013 02:29 PM PDT JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Most Israelis would oppose any peace deal with the Palestinians that involved withdrawing to pre-1967 ceasefire lines, even if land swaps were agreed to accommodate Jewish settlements, a poll showed on Tuesday. The survey by the liberal Israeli Democracy Institute showed 65.6 percent of those questioned did not expect to see a deal in talks between Israel and the Palestinians within a year. The talks resumed last month after a three-year hiatus. U.S. ...

No ties? No problem as China courts Taiwan's remaining allies Posted: 06 Aug 2013 02:05 PM PDT By Lucy Hornby and Luc Cohen BEIJING/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Taiwan's last remaining diplomatic allies are developing increasingly tight economic ties with China, in a trend that could increase Taiwan's diplomatic isolation if the current detente between Beijing and Taipei fails. The world's second-largest economy is gaining soft power with a series of investment commitments in Central America, home to the last significant bloc of countries that still maintain formal ties with Taiwan. ...

Can Iran’s New U.S.-Educated Foreign Minister Mend Ties with Washington? Posted: 06 Aug 2013 01:49 PM PDT The U.S. and Iran maintain no formal diplomatic ties. Neither country stations an ambassador in the other's capital nor do their top diplomats talk to each other all that much. Three decades of tensions mean both American and Iranian politicians are far more practiced at demonizing the other than reaching compromise. But Mohammad Javad Zarif has long proven an important exception to the rule: the Iranian career diplomat received a doctorate at the University of Denver, his children were born in the United States and his fluent English carries little trace of an accent. ...

9 Mexicans win first step in asylum claim Posted: 06 Aug 2013 01:44 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The Homeland Security Department tentatively approved asylum requests for nine Mexican immigrants, including some who were living in the United States illegally but left and attempted to re-enter as part of a protest against U.S. deportation policies.

Wildfire rages overnight near Athens Posted: 06 Aug 2013 01:41 PM PDT ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities announced a series of emergency measures Tuesday to prevent the outbreak of wildfires during a week of high winds and warm temperatures, after firefighters and soldiers spent the night battling a large blaze north of the country's capital.

Tribesmen shoot down Yemeni army helicopter, nine dead Posted: 06 Aug 2013 01:34 PM PDT SANAA (Reuters) - At least nine Yemeni military personnel were killed on Tuesday when tribesmen shot down an army helicopter in central Yemen where gunmen had repeatedly blown up oil pipelines, a military source said. The government has been frustrated by repeated attacks on Yemen's main oil export pipeline, often carried out by disgruntled tribesmen seeking personal gain or trying to force authorities to release jailed relatives. ...

U.S. military judge trims potential sentence in WikiLeaks case Posted: 06 Aug 2013 01:25 PM PDT By Tom Ramstack FORT MEADE, Maryland (Reuters) - The military judge who last week convicted soldier Bradley Manning of committing the biggest breach of classified data in U.S. history through WikiLeaks on Tuesday trimmed the maximum prison sentence the private first class could face. ...

Car bomb near Damascus kills 18; rebels take base Posted: 06 Aug 2013 01:24 PM PDT BEIRUT (AP) — A car bomb in a pro-regime district near the Syrian capital killed at least 18 people on Tuesday while rebels captured a major air base in the north and swept through a string of villages in the heartland of President Bashar Assad's minority Alawite sect in the west.

US Consulate in Milan evacuated after bomb threat Posted: 06 Aug 2013 01:16 PM PDT ROME (AP) — A building housing the U.S. Consulate in Milan and other offices was temporarily evacuated Tuesday evening after the diplomatic mission received a letter containing a bomb threat, police said.

Car bomb kills at least 18 people in Damascus: state media Posted: 06 Aug 2013 01:14 PM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - At least 18 people were killed on Tuesday by a car bomb in the southeastern district of Jaramana in the Syrian capital, state media said. State news agency SANA said women and children were among those killed. It said a bus was also burned out in the explosion and several shops were damaged in a crowded street. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack. Last month a car bomb ripped through Jaramana, home to many of Syria's Druze minority as well as Christians who have fled violence elsewhere, killing at least 10 people. ...

Tunisian police kill Islamist militant in suburb of capital Posted: 06 Aug 2013 01:01 PM PDT TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisian police shot dead an Islamist militant on Tuesday in a suburb on the outskirts of the capital Tunis, an interior ministry official said. The incident comes after a spike in Islamist militant attacks in the country, which is also grappling with the worst political crisis since the 2011 ouster of its autocratic president. Also on Tuesday, the head of the Constituent Assembly, which is only weeks away from finishing a draft constitution and electoral law, suspended the body's work until the Islamist-led government and secular opposition opened up a dialogue. ...

Egypt to say foreign mediation has failed to end crisis Posted: 06 Aug 2013 12:58 PM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's presidency is expected to announce that foreign mediation efforts to end the political crisis have failed, a state-run newspaper said on Tuesday. Al-Ahram newspaper, citing official sources, also reported that the presidency would declare that Muslim Brotherhood protests against the army's overthrow of president Mohamed Mursi were non-peaceful. (Reporting by Shaimaa Fayed; editing by Mike Collett-White)

US senators urge release of Egypt's Islamists Posted: 06 Aug 2013 12:54 PM PDT CAIRO (AP) — Two U.S. senators urged Egypt's military-backed government to release detained members of the Muslim Brotherhood before starting negotiations with the group, warning of worsening relations "if Egypt is not moving to democracy."

George W. Bush receives stent for blocked heart artery Posted: 06 Aug 2013 12:49 PM PDT By Marice Richter DALLAS (Reuters) - Former President George W. Bush underwent successful surgery at a Dallas hospital on Tuesday to place a stent in a blocked heart artery. Doctors discovered a blockage on Monday during Bush's annual physical at the Cooper Clinic in Dallas and recommended a stent, a wire mesh coil used to prop open arteries, a Bush spokesman said. ...

Panic in Yemen: Terrorist Threat Shutters U.S. and U.K. Embassies Posted: 06 Aug 2013 12:41 PM PDT When the United States and the United Kingdom abruptly closed their embassies in the Middle East Sunday, due to unspecified threats of a possible al Qaeda attack ahead of the upcoming Muslim holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan, U.S. and U.K. expatriates in Yemen took it all in stride. Travel alerts for those countries' citizens had always been high. Both the U.S. and the U.K. ...

Iran's leader reaches out to U.S., vows to resolve nuclear row Posted: 06 Aug 2013 12:30 PM PDT By Marcus George and Yeganeh Torbati DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's incoming President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday offered an olive branch to the United States in talks on Tehran's disputed nuclear program, raising hopes of progress after years of stalemate. Rouhani, seen in the West as a relatively moderate leader, told his first news conference since taking the oath on Sunday that he was "seriously determined" to resolve the dispute and was ready to enter "serious and substantive" negotiations. ...

Protesters in Mali's north demand prisoner release Posted: 06 Aug 2013 12:28 PM PDT BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Protesters in the remote north Malian town of Kidal on Tuesday called for the release of dozens of rebels imprisoned in the distant capital, underscoring the tensions between the government and the largely separatist region before a presidential runoff election this weekend aimed at stabilizing the country.

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