2013年10月16日星期三

Yahoo! News: World News

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Yahoo! News: World News


U.S. says talks intense, serious after Iran hints at atomic concessions

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 04:24 PM PDT

Swiss Foreign Minister Burkhalter talks to Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif during a private meeting in GenevaBy Louis Charbonneau and Yeganeh Torbati GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States described two days of nuclear negotiations with Iran as the most serious and candid to date after Western diplomats said Tehran hinted it was ready to scale back sensitive atomic activities to secure urgent sanctions relief. But a senior U.S. administration official told reporters after the conclusion of negotiations between Iran and six world powers that no breakthroughs had been achieved and many disagreements remained. ...


Lao Airlines plane crashes into Mekong river, killing 44

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 10:22 AM PDT

BANGKOK (Reuters) - A Lao Airlines plane flying in stormy weather crashed into the Mekong river in southern Laos on Wednesday, killing all 44 people on board, among them nationals of 10 countries. The virtually new ATR-72 turboprop plane flying from the capital Vientiane crashed at about 4.10 p.m. (0910 GMT) just eight kilometers (five miles) short of its destination Pakse, which is near the borders of both Thailand and Cambodia. ...

U.N. appeals for more troops, helicopters for Mali mission

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 02:01 PM PDT

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations appealed on Wednesday for more troops and helicopters needed so its peacekeeping mission in Mali can effectively stabilize the north of the country and protect civilians from attacks by Islamist extremist and armed groups. The U.N. force, known as MINUSMA, assumed authority on July 1 from a U.N.-backed African force in Mali. But while the U.N. Security Council mandated a 12,600-strong force, there are only some 5,200 troops on the ground. "We are faced with severe challenges," U.N. Mali envoy Bert Koenders told the U.N. Security Council. ...

Mexico finds wreckage of missing small plane, 14 dead

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 11:13 AM PDT

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican officials in the northwestern Baja California peninsula said on Wednesday they had found the remains of a small aircraft that went missing on Monday, and said all 14 people aboard were killed. "Sadly there are no survivors," Communications and Transport Minister Gerardo Ruiz said in a tweet. The 20-seater plane, operated by private company Aereo Servicio Guerrero, went missing on Monday morning after setting off from Loreto International Airport headed for Ciudad Constitucion. Aereo Servicio Guerrero did not reply to requests for comment. ...

Russian opposition leader Navalny avoids jail, vows defiance

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 01:08 PM PDT

Russian opposition leader Navalny attends a court session in KirovBy Gabriela Baczynska KIROV, Russia (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin's chief political opponent walked free from a Russian court on Wednesday after it suspended his five-year sentence for theft, and said he could never be "hounded" out of political life. The conviction, however, will prevent Alexei Navalny, borne to prominence nearly two years ago by the biggest protests of Putin's 13-year rule, from seeking elected office for several years. He said he would appeal. ...


British lawmakers attack government "timidity" over Sri Lanka

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 04:03 PM PDT

By Peter Griffiths LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's decision to set aside worries about Sri Lanka's human rights record and back its selection as host of a Commonwealth leaders' meeting showed a lack of principle, a panel of lawmakers said on Thursday. In a critical report, the British parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee said the government had opposed Sri Lankan attempts to host the meeting in 2011 on human rights grounds, only to support its 2013 bid without seeing evidence of change. "That approach now appears timid," it said. "The UK could and should have taken a more principled stand ... ...

US Congress to pass last-ditch deal to avert default

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 04:53 PM PDT

Speaker of the House John Boehner walks back to his office after a meeting with House Republicans on Capitol Hill, October 16, 2013 in Washington, DCWashington (AFP) - US lawmakers were poised Wednesday to vote to raise the country's debt limit and re-open the federal government, after an eleventh-hour deal to save Washington from a historic default.


Firefighters serenade Judi Dench in London

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 04:48 PM PDT

British actors Steve Coogan, left, and Judi Dench, second from left, arrive with British director Stephen Frears, second from right, for the screening of Philomena, as part of the 57th BFI London Film Festival, at a central London cinema, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013. (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)LONDON (AP) — Judi Dench has been serenaded by firefighters as she arrived for the London premiere of her latest film.


Hodgson bides time with mercurial Morrison

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 04:41 PM PDT

In this handout provided by the Football Association (FA), England manager Roy Hodgson speaks to the media during a press conference on October 16, 2013 in LondonLondon (AFP) - England manager Roy Hodgson has told West Ham United starlet Ravel Morrison that he must prove his worth over several months if he wants to play at the World Cup.


French court upholds Scientology fraud conviction

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 04:30 PM PDT

Photo taken on May 24, 2009 shows books in the window of Paris's scientology "Celebrity Centre" in Legendre StreetParis (AFP) - France's top appeals court has upheld a fraud conviction and fines totalling hundreds of thousands of euros against the Church of Scientology, for taking advantage of vulnerable followers.


European Commission proposes airline carbon charge for EU airspace

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 04:23 PM PDT

By Barbara Lewis BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union on Wednesday revived a proposal to charge foreign airlines for emissions over European airspace, drawing the ire of airline groups who say it goes against spirit of a recent global aviation deal and could reignite trade tensions. The proposal from the European Commission to cover the 2014-2020 period represents a retreat from an existing, though frozen, EU law that would require all planes using EU airports to pay for emissions for the full duration of their flights through an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). ...

Green groups seek assurances Energy Future can clean up coal mines

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 04:19 PM PDT

By Eileen O'Grady HOUSTON (Reuters) - Environmental group leaders on Wednesday urged Texas regulators to ensure that financially strapped Energy Future Holdings can cover the cost of cleaning up its coal mine operations in the state in the future. Dallas-based Energy Future Holdings (EFH), the state's largest generator of electricity, is working to restructure about $40 billion in debt in the next few weeks. ...

Italy contacts Germany amid chaos over Nazi war criminal

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 03:58 PM PDT

Former German SS officer Erich Priebke during his trial at the Rome military justice court on July 30, 1996Rome (AFP) - Italy contacted Germany on Wednesday over what to do with the body of Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke who has caused outrage even after his death in Rome at the age of 100 last week.


Canadian Tories woo votes with pro-consumer program

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 03:53 PM PDT

Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper speaks during a press conference at the end of the G8 summit at the Lough Erne resort near Enniskillen in Northern Ireland on June 18, 2013Ottawa (AFP) - Canada's ruling Tories on Wednesday rolled out legislative priorities to woo disgruntled consumers, proposing unbundling TV packages, no-cost banking and curbing cellphone roaming costs.


Israel urges maintaining Iran sanctions despite Geneva proposals

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 03:40 PM PDT

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel on Wednesday urged Western powers not to give up economic sanctions on Iran until Tehran proves it is dismantling its nuclear program that the United States and its allies believe is aimed at developing atomic weapons. The Israeli comments came after Western diplomats said Iran hinted during two days of nuclear negotiations in Geneva that it was ready to scale back sensitive atomic activities to secure relief from the crippling sanctions. ...

Canada PM to head to Brussels to conclude EU deal

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 03:36 PM PDT

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper plans to travel to Brussels on Thursday to conclude a free trade deal with the European Union.

Shoeless Mexico Indian kids win at basketball

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 03:34 PM PDT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A team of Trique Indian boys swept through a youth basketball tournament despite their generally short stature and the fact that most play barefoot, earning acclaim in Mexico and abroad.

Canada to grant honorary citizenship to Malala Yousafzai

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 03:14 PM PDT

Malala Yousafzai speaks during a news conference with World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, celebrating International Day of the Girl in WashingtonOTTAWA (Reuters) - Pakistani teenage activist Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban for campaigning for girls' education, will be granted honorary Canadian citizenship, the Canadian government announced on Wednesday. She will join an elite group of foreign honorees who include South Africa's Nelson Mandela and Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi. "Canada recognizes the courageous and inspiring example set by Malala Yousafzai in risking her life promoting education for young women," the government said in a speech setting out its priorities for the next two years. ...


EU halts anti-subsidy probe into some biodiesel imports

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 03:05 PM PDT

PARIS (Reuters) - The European Union Commission has decided to halt an anti-subsidy probe into biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia after the complainant dropped its action, a Commission document seen by Reuters on Wednesday showed. The Commission had received on September 27 a complaint from the European biodiesel lobby group EBB over an alleged unfair subsidizing of biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia. The EBB withdrew its complaint on October 7, the commission said. ...

Iran nuclear talks end on upbeat note; more in Nov

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 02:46 PM PDT

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton smiles during a press conference after two days of closed-door nuclear talks on Iran in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013. Talks between Iran and six world powers have ended an upbeat note, with the European Union's top diplomat Ashton calling them "very important," in efforts to end international tensions over Tehran's nuclear program. (AP Photo/Keystone, Martial Trezzini)GENEVA (AP) — Nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers ended on an upbeat note Wednesday, with top Western and Iranian negotiators announcing a follow-up round early next month while speaking of significant progress in efforts to reduce fears that Tehran may be seeking atomic arms.


Senior Dutch diplomat beaten up in Russia

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 02:44 PM PDT

A security guard walks outside the Dutch embassy in Moscow, on October 16, 2013Moscow (AFP) - A senior Dutch diplomat at The Netherlands embassy in Moscow was beaten up at his home in the Russian capital by unknown attackers who scrawled the letters "LGBT" on a mirror with lipstick, officials said Wednesday.


France expels girl to Kosovo after class trip

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 02:43 PM PDT

From left 15 year old Leonarda Dibrani, joined by her brothers Ronaldo 9, Roki 11, Masar 5, expelled from France last week, during an interview for The Associated Press in a room of a shelter house in Mitrovica, northern Kosovo, Wednesday, Oct 16, 2013. France's government, trying to save face amid widespread outrage, said Wednesday that it is investigating the treatment of a 15-year-old girl of the Dibrani family who was detained by police in front of her fellow students so she and her family could be expelled to Kosovo as illegal immigrants. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)MITROVICA, Kosovo (AP) — Leonarda Dibrani was finishing up a field trip when French police showed up at the bus, detaining the 15-year-old schoolgirl in front of her classmates before authorities expelled her to Kosovo because her family's asylum application had been rejected.


Abu Dhabi-based Sky News Arabia says has lost contact with crew in Syria

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 02:41 PM PDT

DUBAI (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi-based Sky News Arabia said on Thursday it had lost contact with three crew members on assignment in northern Syria, considered the world's most dangerous place for journalists, and appealed for help to locate them. The television broadcaster said reporter Ishak Moctar, a Mauritanian national, cameraman Samir Kassab, a Lebanese citizen, and a Syrian driver whose name is being withheld at his family's request, went missing while on assignment near Aleppo, northern Syria, on Tuesday morning. ...

Sanctions relief would be proportionate to Iran nuclear steps: U.S.

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 02:39 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Iran disagree on what sanctions relief, if any, might be provided if Iran takes steps to curtail its atomic program, and any easing would be proportionate to Iran's actions, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki also said the Obama administration has not yet decided whether to urge the U.S. Congress to refrain from imposing additional sanctions on Iran - a request it made ahead of this week's talks on the issue. ...

At 11th hour, U.S. edges away from brink of debt crisis

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 02:30 PM PDT

The statue of Grief and History stands in front of the Capitol Dome in WashingtonBy Richard Cowan and Thomas Ferraro WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate leaders announced a deal on Wednesday to end a political crisis that partially shut down the federal government and brought the world's biggest economy close to a debt default that could have threatened global financial calamity. The deal, however, offers only a temporary fix and does not resolve the fundamental issues of spending and deficits that divide Republicans and Democrats. It funds the government until January 15, so Americans face the possibility of another government shutdown early next year. U.S. ...


Police stop anti-fracking protest in Romania

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 02:08 PM PDT

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Hundreds of Romanians opposed to shale gas extraction in their village on Wednesday scuffled with police at an exploration site where energy giant Chevron plans to start drilling.

Greece lifts immunity of Golden Dawn lawmakers

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 01:28 PM PDT

Greek parliament lawmakers vote to decide on whether to lift the immunity from prosecution of six lawmakers from the Golden Dawn party on October 16, 2013 in AthensAthens (AFP) - Greece's parliament on Wednesday lifted the legal immunity of six lawmakers from the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, broadening a high-profile probe into the group's alleged criminal activities.


Turkey says it fires on Islamist militant positions in Syria

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 01:26 PM PDT

By Daren Butler ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey's army said on Wednesday it had fired on al Qaeda-linked militants in northern Syria after a stray mortar bomb hit Turkish territory, highlighting the growing threat from radical groups over its southern border. Fighters from the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have seized territory in parts of Syria near the Turkish border in recent weeks, leaving the already fragile frontier even more vulnerable. ...

Murder suspects held in Qatar after British teacher's body found

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 01:25 PM PDT

DUBAI (Reuters) - Qatar has arrested suspects over the murder of a European woman, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday, after a British school teacher was found dead in the Gulf Arab state. British media said a 24-year-old woman identified as Lauren Patterson, a primary teacher at a British school in Qatar, went missing last Saturday, when she was seen with two men at a nightclub in the capital Doha. "The police has arrested the suspects of a European woman's murder," the Interior Ministry said in a statement in English on its website. ...

Iran, world powers pledge new nuclear talks

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 01:24 PM PDT

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (R) speaks with his Swiss counterpart Didier Burkhalter during a meeting on the sideline of nuclear talks on October 16, 2013 in GenevaGeneva (AFP) - World powers and Iran agreed Wednesday to hold fresh talks next month on its nuclear programme, after Tehran made what it dubbed a breakthrough proposal that could allow spot checks on its nuclear sites.


Syria rebel video claims new split in opposition

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 01:21 PM PDT

Franz Ontal, OPCW's head of inspector training, center, talks with journalists after a training session with U.N. inspectors of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, OPCW, in the German Armed Forces training center in Wildflecken, Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013. 24 U.N. experts from 17 different countries are attending a five-day training before starting their mission to Syria. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer)BEIRUT (AP) — Several dozen rebel groups in southern Syria have broken with the main political opposition group in exile, a local commander said in a video posted Wednesday, dealing a potential new setback to Western efforts to unify moderates battling President Bashar Assad's regime.


'Black bloc' anarchist violence mars Brazil unrest

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 01:17 PM PDT

Demonstrators clash with the police as they protest in demand of better working conditions and against police violence, on "Teachers' Day" on October 15, 2013, in Rio de Janeiro, BrazilRio de Janeiro (AFP) - Wearing black clothing, scarves and ski masks, so-called "Black Bloc" anarchists have taken a starring role in Brazil's social unrest, using violent tactics to target symbols of capitalism.


Canada parliamentary precinct locked down

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 01:04 PM PDT

The parliament building in Ottawa, Canada from behind a police barrier after it was locked down on October 16, 2013Ottawa (AFP) - Federal police closed the streets around Canada's Parliament and evacuated the prime minister's office Wednesday while they investigated a "suspicious package," authorities said.


Syria rebels assault Aleppo prison

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 01:04 PM PDT

A man runs for cover after alleged shelling by Syrian government forces on the Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood of Aleppo on October 15, 2013Beirut (AFP) - Rebels assaulted the regime-controlled central prison in the main northern city of Aleppo on Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.


Syria blast kills 21, US presses opposition on peace talks

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 01:04 PM PDT

An opposition fighter holds a position on the front line in Syria's northeastern city of Deir Ezzor on October 15, 2013Damascus (AFP) - A bomb killed 21 people in Syria on Wednesday, with sources variously blaming rebels and the army, as the United States urged a key opposition group to join peace talks.


Areva ready to join Hinkley Point UK nuclear consortium: media

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 01:02 PM PDT

PARIS (Reuters) - French nuclear group Areva is ready to join the EDF-led consortium that plans to build a nuclear plant at Hinkley Point in the UK, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, quoting people with knowledge of the matter. Bloomberg said China General Nuclear Power Corp. would also become a shareholder and that Areva and EDF's boards would meet next week to approve the deal. Areva and EDF declined to comment on the report. ...

Egypt-US ties in 'delicate' phase: foreign minister

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 12:57 PM PDT

US State Secretary John Kerry (R) meets with Egypt's Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy prior to the start of the UN general assembly in New York on September 22, 2013Cairo (AFP) - Egypt's foreign minister acknowledged in comments published Wednesday that relations with Washington were in a "delicate" phase after it suspended some military aid in response to a July 3 coup.


Greek Parliament lifts 6 MPs' immunity

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 12:44 PM PDT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's Parliament lifted the immunity from prosecution of six lawmakers from the extreme right-wing Golden Dawn party on Wednesday, as part of a crackdown on the group sparked by the fatal stabbing last month of a Greek rapper.

Egypt star Abou Trika to retire

Posted: 16 Oct 2013 12:41 PM PDT

Egyptian Al-Ahly Club's Mohamed Abou Trika celebrates after scoring against Tunisia's Esperance during their African Champions League match on September 16, 2011 in CairoJohannesburg (AFP) - Veteran Egyptian football star Mohamed Abou Trika will retire this year, Al-Ahly TV reported on Wednesday.


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