Yahoo! News: World News

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• South Sudan rebel leader sets out conditions for talks
• Five killed in an explosion in Egypt's Nile Delta
• Week-long Aleppo air raids kill more than 300: monitor
• Hundreds protest against Egypt's jailing of activists
• U.N. approves India's request to accredit diplomat charged by U.S.
• Mexico repatriates fake reporters convicted on drug charges
• Car bomb at police HQ in Egypt city kills 9
• Egypt: Strong explosion rocks police station
• China's one child policy change set for Q1 next year
• Bolivia leader -- an ex-child worker -- opposes child labor age
• High winds, rain lash Europe, leaving two dead, one missing at sea
• Britain pardons gay 'father of computing' Alan Turing
• UK finally pardons computer pioneer Alan Turing
• Witnesses recount massacre, murders and rape in South Sudan
• Three killed in an explosion in Egypt's Nile Delta
• S. Sudan's Kiir ready for talks with Machar 'without preconditions'
• U.S. Interior Dept rejects deal on road through Alaska wildlife preserve
• A Mideast crossroads gets the Christmas spirit
• Mikhail Kalashnikov, Soviet Inventor of the AK-47, Dies at 94
• U.N.'s Ban calls for thousands more South Sudan peacekeepers
• Pussy Riot women vow to fight on after release
• Chevron appeals to top Ecuador court in pollution case
• Nigerian troops kill 50 Islamists after barracks assault
• Rifle designer Mikhail Kalashnikov dead at 94
• France says row over Hollande Algeria quip 'behind us'
• Canadians, Brits still in SSudan city US evacuated
• Ban wants 5,500 more soldiers for UN mission in S. Sudan
• Virus kills over 1,000 bottlenose dolphins along U.S. east coast
• UN seeks 5,500 more troops and police for SoSudan
• Former Argentine leader acquitted in bribery case
• Thanks, Putin, But No Thanks: Few Are Grateful for Russia’s Pre-Olympic Amnesty
• Italy's 'St Valentine's Beast' serial killer jailed in France
• Tottenham appoint Sherwood as head coach
• Belgium's 'Devil's Pastor' serial killer dies in jail: report
• U.S. moves Marines to Africa as South Sudan violence rages
• Palestinian, Israeli policeman wounded in separate incidents

South Sudan rebel leader sets out conditions for talks Posted: 23 Dec 2013 12:09 PM PST By Carl Odera and Aaron Maasho JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar told Reuters on Monday he was ready to negotiate with President Salva Kiir to bring an end to the nine-day conflict if Kiir first released his detained political allies. The U.S. special envoy to South Sudan, Donald Booth, said Kiir was committed to opening talks with Machar. Information Minister Michael Makuei immediately dismissed the demands made by Machar, who was South Sudan's vice president until Kiir sacked him in July. Hours before meeting Ambassador Booth, Kiir vowed to attack rebel-held Jonglei State capital Bor amid deepening fears that the conflict is provoking broader ethnic bloodletting.

Five killed in an explosion in Egypt's Nile Delta Posted: 23 Dec 2013 04:22 PM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - At least five people were killed and more than 100 hurt in an explosion at a security building in Egypt's Nile Delta town of Dakahlyia on Tuesday, state media and a security source said. "It is still unclear what caused the explosion, but it seems to be a big one that led to the collapse of parts of the security building in Dakahlyia and we are expecting many injuries and potential deaths," the source said. Another security source said the blast may have been caused by a car bomb, but it was not yet clear if it was suicide attack or not. ...

Week-long Aleppo air raids kill more than 300: monitor Posted: 23 Dec 2013 04:12 PM PST More than 300 people have been killed in a week of air raids on the northern Syrian city of Aleppo and nearby towns by President Bashar al-Assad's forces, a monitoring group said on Monday. Many of the casualties, who included scores of women and children, were killed by so-called barrel bombs dropped from helicopters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Syrian authorities say they are battling rebels who have controlled parts of Aleppo, Syria's biggest city, and most of the surrounding countryside for the past 18 months. Rami Abdulrahman, director of the British-based pro-opposition Observatory, said 87 children and 30 women were among the 301 people killed in the Aleppo air raids since December 15.

Hundreds protest against Egypt's jailing of activists Posted: 23 Dec 2013 03:08 PM PST Raising a banner reading "Freedom for all detainees", the protesters chanted against the military-backed government, calling army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi "a dog". A court on Sunday handed out three-year jail sentences to Ahmed Maher, Ahmed Douma and Mohamed Adel, symbols of the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, for protesting without permission and assaulting the police. The European Union and the United States urged Egypt to reconsider the sentences. In Washington, the State Department said it was deeply concern with the "worsening climate for freedom of assembly and peaceful expression in Egypt.

U.N. approves India's request to accredit diplomat charged by U.S. Posted: 23 Dec 2013 02:07 PM PST By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations has approved a request from India to accredit a New York-based diplomat after her arrest by U.S. authorities on criminal charges including visa fraud, a U.N. official said on Monday. Indian media said the request to transfer Devyani Khobragade, who was deputy consul-general in New York, to the United Nations was aimed at ending the stand-off with the United States in the hopes that her new diplomatic status could allow New Delhi to bring her home without the prosecution proceeding. "The U.N. has processed the request to register Ms. Khobragade as a member of the Permanent Mission of India to the U.N.," a U.N. source said on condition of anonymity.

Mexico repatriates fake reporters convicted on drug charges Posted: 23 Dec 2013 04:50 PM PST By Ivan Castro MANAGUA (Reuters) - Eighteen people - convicted on drug-trafficking charges after posing as television journalists while entering Nicaragua with $9.2 million - were repatriated by Mexico on Monday from the Central American nation. Nicaraguan police transported the defendants, including a Mexican policeman, under tight security to Managua's International Airport, where authorities turned them over to Mexican prosecutors and prison officials. In January, a Nicaraguan judge sentenced the 18, led by the group's only woman, Raquel Alatorre Correa, to 30-year sentences for drug trafficking, money laundering and organized crime. The group was detained in August 2012 when they crossed the Nicaragua-Honduras border carrying $9.2 million in six vehicles with logos from Televisa, Mexico's largest broadcaster.

Car bomb at police HQ in Egypt city kills 9 Posted: 23 Dec 2013 04:50 PM PST A powerful car bomb tore through a police headquarters in the Egyptian city of Mansoura early Tuesday, killing at least nine people, mostly policemen, officials said. Egyptian security sources said the explosion in the city, north of Cairo, was massive and a part of the building had caved in. The explosion was caused by a car bomb," Omar al-Shawatsi, the governor of Daqahleya, of which Mansoura is the capital, told state media. The impact of the explosion was felt around 20 kilometres (12 miles) away and shattered windows of nearby buildings, the security sources said.

Egypt: Strong explosion rocks police station Posted: 23 Dec 2013 04:40 PM PST CAIRO (AP) — A strong explosion rocked a police headquarters in a Nile Delta city north of Cairo early Tuesday leaving at least 11 people dead and scores of others injured, according to state news agency and a security official.

China's one child policy change set for Q1 next year Posted: 23 Dec 2013 04:37 PM PST Changes to China's strict one child policy, which will allow more parents to have a second child, will begin to roll out early next year, the country's family planning commission told official media late on Monday. The policy change is expected to go into force in some areas of China in the first quarter of 2014, Yang Wenzhuang, a director at the National Health and Family Planning Commission told China's official Xinhua news agency. The move is part of a plan to raise fertility rates and ease the financial burden of China's rapidly ageing population. China will eventually scrap family planning restrictions, but is unlikely to abandon its family planning policy in the near term, a senior official said last month.

Bolivia leader -- an ex-child worker -- opposes child labor age Posted: 23 Dec 2013 04:26 PM PST President Evo Morales said Monday he opposed any outright ban on child labor or setting a minimum age for workers in Bolivia -- as a former child worker, himself. "It should not be banned," the socialist president, 54, said, drawing on his own experience to explain his opposition to legislation under consideration that would set a minimum age of 14 for child workers. Child labor as such "should not be banned. Morales met in his office with members of young people's groups opposed to the legislation, which would bring Bolivia in line with International Labor Organization norms.

High winds, rain lash Europe, leaving two dead, one missing at sea Posted: 23 Dec 2013 04:25 PM PST High winds and heavy rain battered parts of Europe on Monday, leaving at least two people dead and one man lost at sea off France, and disrupting travel two days from Christmas. In Britain a man was found dead in a swollen river in northwest England where the water was "fast flowing, and a lot more water than normal", said Inspector Chis Wright of the Cumbria police, adding: "It's fair to say that the weather contributed to the problem." A passenger aboard a Brittany Ferries vessel suffering intense spinal pain because of the rough seas also had to be evacuated by helicopter to Brest, the maritime authorities said. Across north and northwest France, about 90,000 homes lost electricity, said French utility ERDF, and air and rail traffic was disrupted in the Brittany and Normandy regions.

Britain pardons gay 'father of computing' Alan Turing Posted: 23 Dec 2013 04:07 PM PST Britain on Tuesday granted a posthumous pardon to Alan Turing, the World War II code-breaking hero who committed suicide after he was convicted of the then crime of homosexuality. Turing is often hailed as a father of modern computing and he played a pivotal role in breaking Germany's "Enigma" code, an effort that some historians say brought an early end to World War II. He died in 1954 after eating an apple laced with cyanide, two years after he was sentenced to chemical castration for the "gross indecency" of homosexuality. Queen Elizabeth II has now pardoned Turing for "a sentence we would now consider unjust and discriminatory", justice minister Chris Grayling said.

UK finally pardons computer pioneer Alan Turing Posted: 23 Dec 2013 04:06 PM PST LONDON (AP) — His code breaking prowess helped the Allies outfox the Nazis, his theories laid the foundation for the computer age, and his work on artificial intelligence still informs the debate over whether machines can think.

Witnesses recount massacre, murders and rape in South Sudan Posted: 23 Dec 2013 03:59 PM PST Recovering from four gunshot wounds on a mattress in a UN base in South Sudan's capital Juba, Simon recounts how he survived what he says was a brutal massacre carried out by government forces. Simon, who would only give his first name for fear of reprisals, says he was arrested with scores of other men in the wake of an outbreak of fighting between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and those loyal to his rival Riek Machar, a former vice president who was sacked in July. The detainees, he said, were herded into a police station before government forces loyal to Kiir began firing at them through the windows, picking off the men one by one. They fled 48 hours later when the building, situated in one of Juba's busiest areas, was left unguarded.

Three killed in an explosion in Egypt's Nile Delta Posted: 23 Dec 2013 03:56 PM PST Three people were killed and more than 50 hurt in an explosion at a security building in Egypt's Nile Delta town of Dakahlyia on Tuesday, state media and a security source said. "It is still unclear what caused the explosion, but it seems to be a big one that led to the collapse of parts of the security building in Dakahlyia and we are expecting many injuries and potential deaths," the source said.

S. Sudan's Kiir ready for talks with Machar 'without preconditions' Posted: 23 Dec 2013 03:51 PM PST South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has said he is ready for talks with rival Riek Machar "without preconditions" to end the violence there, the US special envoy to the country said Monday. Meanwhile, the US military deployed a special Marine Corps unit and aircraft to the Horn of Africa to prepare for possible further evacuations of Americans from South Sudan, where violence has raged for a week. Given the intensity of the fighting, the US government dispatched Donald Booth, who is the special envoy for both South Sudan and Sudan, to Juba, where he met Kiir.

U.S. Interior Dept rejects deal on road through Alaska wildlife preserve Posted: 23 Dec 2013 03:43 PM PST By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Department of the Interior, after a four-year environmental analysis, on Monday rejected a deal proposed by the state of Alaska and an indigenous group to swap 61,000 acres for conservation in exchange for the right to build an emergency road through a wildlife refuge. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said she sided with the conclusion of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reject the proposed land exchange and prevent the construction of a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. The state and the local Aleut people want to build a single-lane gravel road to provide emergency access for the remote town of King Cove to an all-weather airport.

A Mideast crossroads gets the Christmas spirit Posted: 23 Dec 2013 03:16 PM PST DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Just days before Christmas, Ben Elliott-Scott was busy touching up the paint on a foam snowman and blasting trees with manmade flurries to turn them a wintery white. Santa was due to arrive soon, along with dozens of party guests at the exclusive villa nestled alongside a Dubai golf course.

Mikhail Kalashnikov, Soviet Inventor of the AK-47, Dies at 94 Posted: 23 Dec 2013 03:14 PM PST Mikhail Kalashnikov, the Soviet general who designed the ubiquitous automatic weapon that now bears his name, died Dec. 23 at the age of 94. A former Soviet tank gunner of humble Siberian origins, Kalashnikov submitted his prototype as part of a competition held to design a new Soviet infantry rifle in the waning moments of World War II. The AK-47 was born: a light-weight automated gun that was both easy to use and maintain. As C.J. Chivers, the New York Times journalist and author of a history of the AK-47, writes, Soviet infantry first wielded these rifles during the brutal crackdown on the Hungarian uprising in 1956. Use of the weapon first spread along ideological lines, proliferating among armies and militias that had common cause with the Soviet Union.

U.N.'s Ban calls for thousands more South Sudan peacekeepers Posted: 23 Dec 2013 03:08 PM PST By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon asked the U.N. Security Council on Monday to send 5,500 more peacekeepers in South Sudan to better protect civilians from violence that threatens to plunge Africa's youngest country into civil war. Ban made the recommendation for the two-thirds increase in the size of the force in a letter to the 15-member council, in which he also called for 423 more police officers. There are currently some 6,700 U.N. troops and 670 police officers in the U.N. force in South Sudan, which is known as UNMISS.

Pussy Riot women vow to fight on after release Posted: 23 Dec 2013 03:04 PM PST The two jailed members of anti-Kremlin punk band Pussy Riot, whose imprisonment prompted a wave of global outrage, walked free on Monday and immediately vowed to fight injustice in Russian prisons. Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were released two months early under a Kremlin-backed amnesty after serving most of their two-year sentences. They immediately slammed the measure as a publicity stunt before the Olympic Games Russia will host in February. "I don't think the amnesty is a humanitarian act, I think it's a PR stunt," the 25-year-old Alyokhina said.

Chevron appeals to top Ecuador court in pollution case Posted: 23 Dec 2013 03:02 PM PST By Alexandra Valencia QUITO (Reuters) - U.S. energy company Chevron Corp appealed on Monday to Ecuador's highest court, asking it to cancel a $9.5 billion fine for polluting the Amazon rainforest in a long-running case. Last month Ecuador's National Court of Justice upheld a 2011 verdict by a lower court that Chevron was responsible for pollution in the area caused by U.S. oil firm Texaco, whose assets were bought by Chevron in 2001. Chevron says that 2011 ruling was obtained by fraud and it is pursuing a case in New York against the U.S. lawyer representing the plaintiffs who it says resorted to corruption to win what it calls an "illegitimate" verdict. "Chevron Corp asked the Constitutional Court of Ecuador today to revoke the fraudulent $9.5 billion sentence against the company because of the multiple violations of constitutional guarantees," the U.S. company said in a statement.

Nigerian troops kill 50 Islamists after barracks assault Posted: 23 Dec 2013 03:02 PM PST Nigeria's troops have killed over 50 Islamists and destroyed more than 20 vehicles during a massive hunt for fleeing Boko Haram insurgents who attacked an army barracks in a restive northeastern town, a spokesman said Monday. Boko Haram gunmen stormed the Mohammed Kur Barracks in Bama early Friday, spraying it with bullets before torching the compound. "Although a good number of the insurgents escaped with bullet wounds while some have been arrested, over 50 of them died in the course of exchange of fire with ground troops in the ongoing operations to apprehend fleeing terrorists," Major-General Chris Olukolade said in a statement. Olukolade said the military destroyed over 20 vehicles conveying fleeing Boko Haram fighters.

Rifle designer Mikhail Kalashnikov dead at 94 Posted: 23 Dec 2013 03:02 PM PST MOSCOW (AP) — Mikhail Kalashnikov started out wanting to make farm equipment, but the harvest he reaped was one of blood as the designer of the AK-47 assault rifle, the world's most popular firearm.

France says row over Hollande Algeria quip 'behind us' Posted: 23 Dec 2013 02:47 PM PST The French government on Monday said the row over a joke by President Francois Hollande about Algeria was over, with a key supporter claiming relations with Algiers have "never been better." The controversy erupted after Hollande joked during a speech last week to the CRIF Jewish representative group that French Interior Minister Manuel Valls had just returned "safe and sound" from a trip to Algeria, and "that's already a lot." Hollande's office on Sunday said his remarks were "the subject of unfounded controversy" and that he expressed "sincere regrets for the interpretation of his statement." Hollande telephoned Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Monday, according to an official Algerian source cited by the APS news agency, without giving further details.

Canadians, Brits still in SSudan city US evacuated Posted: 23 Dec 2013 02:39 PM PST NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — British, Canadian and Kenyan citizens are among 3,000 foreigners trapped in a South Sudan city experiencing bouts of heavy machine gun fire, one of the most violent areas of a weeklong conflict that has likely killed more than 1,000 people, a top U.N. official said Monday.

Ban wants 5,500 more soldiers for UN mission in S. Sudan Posted: 23 Dec 2013 02:29 PM PST UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Monday recommended to the Security Council that 5,500 more soldiers and 423 extra police be sent to violence-wracked South Sudan to reinforce the UN mission there. The UN mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) currently has nearly 7,000 soldiers, so the new deployment would bring the total figure to about 12,000. Reinforcements would be drawn from other UN missions in Africa, according to a letter from Ban to the Council, a copy of which was seen by AFP. The Security Council launched emergency consultations on Monday on the situation in South Sudan to study Ban's requests.

Virus kills over 1,000 bottlenose dolphins along U.S. east coast Posted: 23 Dec 2013 02:28 PM PST By Barbara Liston ORLANDO (Reuters) - More than 1,000 migratory bottlenose dolphins have died from a measles-like virus along the U.S. Eastern Seaboard in 2013 and the epidemic shows no sign of abating, a marine biologist said on Monday. "It is having a significant impact and that is something we're monitoring closely," said Erin Fougeres, a marine mammal biologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). An estimated 39,206 bottlenose dolphins populated the eastern seaboard, to a depth of 25 feet, from New Jersey to Central Florida in 2010, according to the latest NOAA census. Scientists are trying to determine why the morbillivirus resurged this year.

UN seeks 5,500 more troops and police for SoSudan Posted: 23 Dec 2013 02:26 PM PST UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is urging the U.N. Security Council to add 5,500 troops and police to the 7,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission in conflict-wracked South Sudan.

Former Argentine leader acquitted in bribery case Posted: 23 Dec 2013 02:22 PM PST Argentina's former president Fernando de la Rua, accused of ordering the payment of bribes to senators in 2000, was acquitted Monday in a federal court in Buenos Aires. A former legislative aide, Mario Pontaquarto, had alleged that bribes were paid so that the senators would approve the disputed labor reform bill, which had been demanded by the International Monetary Fund. "The absence of any hint of corruption has been demonstrated," De La Rua added as he left the courthouse, denouncing what he called a "political plot." The scandal over possible bribes contributed to a political crisis and the worst economic collapse in Argentina's history, which led De La Rua to flee the presidential palace in a helicopter as protesters swarmed.

Thanks, Putin, But No Thanks: Few Are Grateful for Russia’s Pre-Olympic Amnesty Posted: 23 Dec 2013 02:18 PM PST Should they thank President Vladimir Putin for the massive amnesty that freed Russia's most famous political prisoners over the past week? Or was the attempt to whitewash Russia's record on human rights in time for the Olympic Games in Sochi too brazen to deserve any gratitude? In the coming weeks, as world leaders decide whether or not to boycott the Sochi Games in February, this question is sure to muddy the debate. And that is exactly what Putin seems to have intended.

Italy's 'St Valentine's Beast' serial killer jailed in France Posted: 23 Dec 2013 02:04 PM PST An Italian serial killer known as the "St Valentine's Beast" who fled to France after being allowed out of prison to visit his mother was sentenced to jail by a French court on Monday. Already serving a sentence in Italy for extortion, Bartolomeo Gagliano, went on the run last Tuesday after being granted a good behavior pass. He hijacked a car and forced the driver to take him to Genoa, 170 km (105 miles) from France. A court in Nice handed Gagliano a 10-month prison sentence for carrying a gun and false identity papers.

Tottenham appoint Sherwood as head coach Posted: 23 Dec 2013 01:51 PM PST Tim Sherwood was on Monday appointed head coach of Tottenham with a contract to the end of the 2014-2015 season, the Premier League club announced. Sherwood had been named as interim coach after Andre Villas-Boas was sacked earlier in December following a 5-0 defeat to Liverpool. "Following the departure of Andre Villas-Boas, the Club can announce that Tim Sherwood has been appointed Head Coach with a contract to the end of the 2014/15 season," said a club statement. The 44-year-old Sherwood had overseen a 3-2 over Southampton on Sunday.

Belgium's 'Devil's Pastor' serial killer dies in jail: report Posted: 23 Dec 2013 01:45 PM PST Andras Pandy, one of Belgium's worst serial killers dubbed the "Devil's Pastor", died overnight in a jail in northwestern Bruges aged 86, the Belga news agency reported Monday. His daughter Agnes was also found guilty of five of the six murders and was jailed for 21 years. The pair were only arrested in 1997 following the Marc Dutroux paedophile scandal which stunned Belgium and prompted police to reopen inquiries into several other unsolved disappearances.

U.S. moves Marines to Africa as South Sudan violence rages Posted: 23 Dec 2013 01:38 PM PST By Phil Stewart and Missy Ryan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military on Monday deployed about 150 Marines to a base in the Horn of Africa to prepare for possible further evacuations of American citizens from the deepening conflict in South Sudan, U.S. officials said on Monday. The deployment of a special crisis-response team of Marines, who are normally stationed at Moron Air Base in Spain, follows a thwarted evacuation attempt in South Sudan over the weekend in which four U.S. soldiers were wounded by gunfire. Three U.S. officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the Marines were sent to a base in Djibouti, a move that would allow them to deploy to South Sudan more quickly, if asked. Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said earlier in the day that the U.S. repositioning of troops would allow for possible "evacuations and the security associated with an evacuation," should the State Department make such a request.

Palestinian, Israeli policeman wounded in separate incidents Posted: 23 Dec 2013 01:36 PM PST Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Israeli troops shot and seriously wounded a Palestinian in the Gaza Strip Monday, while a Palestinian stabbed and seriously wounded Israeli policeman in the West Bank, sources on each side said. A spokesman for the emergency services in Gaza said a 27-year-old man had been shot in Beit Lahiya, in the north of the Palestinian enclave, and was in a serious condition. The Israeli army said troops had fired at an "individual trying to place a bomb near the security fence in the northern Gaza Strip." Meanwhile, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said "a policeman was gravely wounded by a Palestinian who stabbed him at the Adam intersection" north of Jerusalem.

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