Yahoo! News: World News

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• Syria misses chemical weapons handover deadline
• Four bombs hit central Baghdad, killing 23
• Growing concern with China's behavior at sea: senior U.S. diplomat
• Soldiers lynch man at army ceremony in Central African Republic
• 'Time is on our side', says EU in showdown over Ukraine
• Colombia police nab Spanish man, 78, with cocaine in his stomach
• Kin of 9/11 hijacker to face judge in Guantanamo
• Experiment adds sense of touch to artificial hand
• Egypt army chief Sisi says will run for president -report
• Aston Martin issues recall over throttle fault
• U.S. House passes Republican-backed California water plan
• As snowy winter drags on, Northeast struggles to cope
• NZ 54-3 at lunch on day 1, 1st test vs. India
• Russia opposes a humanitarian resolution on Syria
• Iraqi PM under fire amid 'insanity' of suicide bombings
• 2011 champ Robredo knocked out in Chile 2nd round
• British ex-Mormon accuses church leader of fraud
• Canada government warns it will block rail strike
• Turkey lawmakers adopt 'Orwellian' Internet curbs
• Russia mocks U.S. envoy Power's meeting with Russian punk rock band
• Google reaches agreement with EU in antitrust case
• World Bank to map Africa's natural resources
• Canada will have to make do without Stamkos
• Forest set up FA Cup tie against ex-boss Clough
• US warns of explosives in toothpaste tubes
• European sites, art tell tales of Monuments Men
• Madrid spank Atletico in Copa semifinal, Barca win
• Roma beats Napoli 3-2 in Italian Cup semi 1st leg
• Bale misses Copa clash with Ronaldo banned in Liga
• Brazil expects troubled WCup stadium to be ready
• Pope pressured to act on abuse after UN rebuke

Syria misses chemical weapons handover deadline Posted: 05 Feb 2014 12:06 PM PST By Anthony Deutsch AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Syria on Wednesday missed a deadline to hand over all the toxic materials it declared to the world's chemical weapons watchdog, putting the program several weeks behind schedule and jeopardizing a final June 30 deadline. At the same time, opposition activists say the Syrian air force is attacking the country's biggest city, Aleppo, with barrel bombs, forcing many to flee. Turkey was turning away some of those refugees because camps were now full. Under a deal reached in October between Russia and the United States, which helped avert a U.S.-led missile strike against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, Syria agreed to give up its entire stockpile of chemical weapons by February 5.

Four bombs hit central Baghdad, killing 23 Posted: 05 Feb 2014 01:28 PM PST By Kareem Raheem BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Four bombs exploded in central Baghdad near the heavily-fortified "Green Zone" and a busy square on Wednesday, killing at least 23 people, Iraqi security sources said. The blasts came a day after two rockets were fired into the Green Zone, home to the prime minister's office and Western embassies, and are likely to heighten concerns about Iraq's ability to protect strategic sites as security deteriorates. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombings, but Sunni Islamist militants have been regaining ground in Iraq, particularly in the western province of Anbar, where they overran two cities on January 1. On Wednesday, security sources said two parked car bombs went off opposite the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, killing 11.

Growing concern with China's behavior at sea: senior U.S. diplomat Posted: 05 Feb 2014 03:36 PM PST The United States has growing concerns that China's maritime claims in the disputed South China Sea are an effort to gain creeping control of oceans in the Asia-Pacific region, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday. In congressional testimony, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Danny Russel said China's vague territorial claims in the South China Sea had "created uncertainty, insecurity and instability" among its neighbors. While the United States says it does not take sides in disputes, Russel said it has an interest in seeing maritime disputes resolved peacefully. The United States has also stepped up its military presence in the region as part of a strategic "pivot" toward Asia.

Soldiers lynch man at army ceremony in Central African Republic Posted: 05 Feb 2014 03:26 PM PST By Media Coulibaly BANGUI (Reuters) - A group of soldiers in Central African Republic's capital lynched a man on Wednesday whom they suspected of having been a rebel, minutes after hearing the new president promise to restore security at a ceremony to reinstate the divided country's armed forces. Meanwhile Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned that rebels who have fled the capital Bangui in recent weeks are regrouping in the country's northwest where they have launched renewed attacks against civilians. A Reuters witness saw about 20 uniformed soldiers accuse a member of the crowd at a training center in the capital Bangui of having belonged to Seleka, the mostly Muslim rebel group that seized power in a coup last March. Ten minutes earlier, about 20 meters (yards) away, the new interim president, Catherine Samba-Panza, had addressed the crowd of at least 1,000 soldiers at a ceremony meant to re-introduce the army to the nation after it effectively disappeared from view during Seleka's rule.

'Time is on our side', says EU in showdown over Ukraine Posted: 05 Feb 2014 04:10 PM PST By Luke Baker BRUSSELS (Reuters) - If there is a consistent message the European Union has tried to send since Ukraine rejected a trade deal last November in favor of stronger ties with Moscow, it is that it does not want to end up in a tug-of-war with Russia. But whether the EU likes it or not, that is precisely what has come to pass and the future of Ukraine - its 46 million people and its faltering economy - hangs in the balance. In a speech to a security conference in Munich last weekend, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy laid out the nature of the struggle in simple terms. The EU, he said, had offered Ukraine a free trade and association agreement to help it build bridges with its neighbors to the west.

Colombia police nab Spanish man, 78, with cocaine in his stomach Posted: 05 Feb 2014 03:39 PM PST Colombian police said on Wednesday they had arrested a 78-year-old Spaniard at the airport with cocaine in his stomach, the oldest foreigner ever caught in the South American nation on charges of drug-trafficking. A "nervous" Jose Molla Martinez aroused the suspicion of anti-drugs officers upon arrival at Bogota's international airport for a flight to Barcelona, and an x-ray found 400 grams of capsules containing cocaine, the police's anti-narcotics unit said. "Jose Molla Martinez becomes the oldest foreign citizen caught in Colombia serving as a human courier," a statement from the unit said. Cocaine trafficking is a major source of funding for Colombia's leftist FARC guerrillas but Peru is now the biggest producer in the region.

Kin of 9/11 hijacker to face judge in Guantanamo Posted: 05 Feb 2014 05:12 PM PST MIAMI (AP) — The U.S. military is moving forward with a war crimes case against a Guantanamo prisoner related to a Sept. 11 hijacker.

Experiment adds sense of touch to artificial hand Posted: 05 Feb 2014 05:09 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — To feel what you touch — that's the holy grail for artificial limbs. In a step toward that goal, European researchers created a robotic hand that let an amputee feel differences between a bottle, a baseball and a mandarin orange.

Egypt army chief Sisi says will run for president -report Posted: 05 Feb 2014 04:57 PM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has said he will run for president, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Thursday. Al-Seyassah quoted Sisi as saying that he had no alternative but to meet the demands of the Egyptian people for him to run in the elections, which are due within six months. In July, Sisi toppled Egypt's first freely elected president, Islamist Mohamed Mursi, after mass protests against his rule. ...

Aston Martin issues recall over throttle fault Posted: 05 Feb 2014 04:38 PM PST British luxury car manufacturer Aston Martin on Wednesday announced it was recalling 17,590 of its sports cars after a Chinese sub-supplier that moulds its throttle pedals was alleged to have used counterfeit plastic. "Although there has been no report of any accidents or injuries involving the throttle pedal, Aston Martin's commitment to customer safety is paramount, which is why the company is taking this action," said a spokeswoman.

U.S. House passes Republican-backed California water plan Posted: 05 Feb 2014 04:31 PM PST By Ayesha Rascoe WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican-led House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill that would roll back federal rules to provide more water for farmers and municipalities in California's Central Valley as the state copes with its worst drought in decades. Opponents, including California's Democratic lawmakers, have termed the bill a water grab that would circumvent state law, pit water users against each other and roll back environmental protections. "This is the greatest intrusion into state water rights that we've seen in this legislature," said Representative George Miller, a Democrat whose California district includes the cities of Concord and Richmond, east of San Francisco. In a statement of policy, White House said the bill would not alleviate the effects of California's drought but instead disrupt decades of work done to address water challenges in the most populous U.S. state.

As snowy winter drags on, Northeast struggles to cope Posted: 05 Feb 2014 04:26 PM PST By Scott Malone and Victoria Cavaliere BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The latest in a series of winter storms hit the United States on Wednesday, dropping wet, heavy snow in the Northeast states that disrupted travel and threatened supplies of salt needed to keep roads clear. Officials in New York and New Jersey warned they were starting to run short of the rock salt used by road crews to keep ice from building up on highways and local roads, the result of the season's repeated storms. "We have a salt shortage for some parts of the state, primarily New York City and the Long Island area, because there have been so many storms this season already," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told reporters on a conference call. "The state does have a significant amount of salt on hand, we'll be shipping that salt around the state." Cuomo declared a state of emergency for New York.

NZ 54-3 at lunch on day 1, 1st test vs. India Posted: 05 Feb 2014 04:26 PM PST AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — India took full advantage of an influential toss to reduce New Zealand to 54-3 at lunch Thursday on the first day of the first cricket test.

Russia opposes a humanitarian resolution on Syria Posted: 05 Feb 2014 04:24 PM PST UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia's United Nations ambassador says Moscow is against a U.N. Security Council resolution that would push for greater humanitarian access to Syria to deliver desperately needed aid.

Iraqi PM under fire amid 'insanity' of suicide bombings Posted: 05 Feb 2014 03:56 PM PST Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki came under fire from US lawmakers Wednesday for the slow pace of political reconciliation and links to Iran, said to fuel a wave of suicide bombings. Lawmakers in the House of Representatives gathered to assess the threat of Al-Qaeda in Iraq and its offshoot, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), as a new round of bombings rocked Baghdad, killing 33 people. Militants linked to Al-Qaeda are now carrying out an average of 40 mass attacks a month, in Iraq's bloodiest eruption of violence in six years and the worst since US troops withdrew in 2011, said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce. The militants were benefiting from "the alienation" of the country's Sunni population from its Shiite-dominated government, which also has strong ties to Iran's Shiite leaders in Iran, he added.

2011 champ Robredo knocked out in Chile 2nd round Posted: 05 Feb 2014 03:45 PM PST VINA DEL MAR, Chile (AP) — Second-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain was knocked out in the second round of the Royal Guard Open on Wednesday, falling for the second time to Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 3-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4.

British ex-Mormon accuses church leader of fraud Posted: 05 Feb 2014 03:38 PM PST SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A former Mormon is using the British judicial system to bring to light what he perceives as fundamental lies in the faith's tenets.

Canada government warns it will block rail strike Posted: 05 Feb 2014 03:32 PM PST Ottawa (AFP) - Canada's labor minister, Kellie Leitch, gave notice Wednesday it will legislate rail workers back to work if they go on strike, saying a labor disruption would hurt the economy.

Turkey lawmakers adopt 'Orwellian' Internet curbs Posted: 05 Feb 2014 03:30 PM PST Turkish MPs late Wednesday adopted new Internet legislation roundly criticised as a fresh assault by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on freedom of expression, access to information and investigative journalism. The proposals come amid parallel moves by Erdogan to push through contentious judicial reforms as he fights to keep the lid on a deeply damaging corruption probe entangling some of his closest allies. After hours of debate, during which opposition MPs blasted the bill as "censorship", the measures were adopted in the chamber, where Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) dominates with 319 of the 550 seats. The bill extends what are already hefty Internet curbs in place under a controversial 2007 law that earned Turkey equal ranking with China as the world's biggest web censor according to a Google transparency report published in December.

Russia mocks U.S. envoy Power's meeting with Russian punk rock band Posted: 05 Feb 2014 03:30 PM PST U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power on Wednesday discussed "disturbing" trends in Russia with previously jailed members of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot, prompting Moscow's U.N. envoy to ask if she was joining the group. Power, who was well known for her own human rights activism before she joined the first administration of U.S. President Barack Obama after his 2008 election, met at the U.S. mission to the U.N. with Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina ahead of their appearance at an all-star concert. Power and the two band members discussed "the disturbing trend in (Russia) of legislation, prosecutions and government actions aimed at suppressing dissent and pressuring groups that advocate for fundamental human rights and basic government accountability," Power's deputy spokesman Kurtis Cooper said.

Google reaches agreement with EU in antitrust case Posted: 05 Feb 2014 03:26 PM PST BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's antitrust watchdog on Wednesday accepted "far-reaching" concessions offered by Google to settle allegations it is abusing its dominant position in Internet searches, bringing the three-year-old case close to an end.

World Bank to map Africa's natural resources Posted: 05 Feb 2014 03:24 PM PST The World Bank plans to launch in July a $1-billion plan to map Africa's natural resources with the aim of delineating more clearly the continent's uncovered mineral wealth. The project, dubbed the Billion Dollar Map, "will unlock the true worth of Africa's mineral endowment," Tom Butler, mining specialist at the Bank's private finance arm, the International Finance Corp., said Wednesday. Speaking in Cape Town, South Africa, Butler said most of Africa's subsoil resources have not been surveyed. The World Bank , which calls accessible data on resources a "public good", said it has already invested over $200 million in developing geological data for Africa over the past 10 years.

Canada will have to make do without Stamkos Posted: 05 Feb 2014 03:23 PM PST The NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning and center Steven Stamkos released a joint statement Wednesday saying he won't play for Canada in the Sochi Olympics. Stamkos has nearly recovered from a broken leg suffered in November, but Lightning executive Steve Yzerman said the bone is not completely healed and doctors had advised that Stamkos shouldn't play. "Although the doctor was very pleased to this point with the healing process, he explained that the callus surrounding the fracture site is not 100 percent consolidated, and Steven will not be cleared to play in a game until that happens," Lightning executive Steve Yzerman said.

Forest set up FA Cup tie against ex-boss Clough Posted: 05 Feb 2014 03:17 PM PST Nottingham Forest will face a Sheffield United side managed by former City Ground favourite Nigel Clough in the last 16 of the FA Cup after beating Preston North End 2-0 in a fourth-round replay on Wednesday. Jamie Mackie's early opener and Darius Henderson's stoppage-time strike saw Championship side Forest, managed by former Preston boss Billy Davies, progress at the expense of their League One opponents. Now they will face another third tier side in Sheffield United, with the trip to the Blades' Bramall Lane ground sure to stoke plenty of memories. Former England international Clough, the son of legendary Forest manager Brian, started his career as a player at the City Ground.

US warns of explosives in toothpaste tubes Posted: 05 Feb 2014 03:16 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Homeland Security Department is warning airlines flying to Russia that terrorists may try to smuggle explosives on board hidden in toothpaste tubes.

European sites, art tell tales of Monuments Men Posted: 05 Feb 2014 03:16 PM PST DALLAS (AP) — From a fairy tale-inspiring castle in the Bavarian Alps to a serene sculpture of Mary and Jesus by Michelangelo tucked away in a Belgian church, sites and works of art across Europe can give travelers a glimpse of the heroic work done by the group depicted in the new movie "The Monuments Men."

Madrid spank Atletico in Copa semifinal, Barca win Posted: 05 Feb 2014 03:14 PM PST MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid spoiled crosstown rival Atletico Madrid's short honeymoon as Spanish leader by winning its Copa del Rey semifinal first leg, while Barcelona also took control of its series with a victory over Real Sociedad.

Roma beats Napoli 3-2 in Italian Cup semi 1st leg Posted: 05 Feb 2014 03:10 PM PST ROME (AP) — Roma beat Napoli 3-2 in the first leg of their Italian Cup semifinal on Wednesday thanks to a double from Ivory Coast forward Gervinho.

Bale misses Copa clash with Ronaldo banned in Liga Posted: 05 Feb 2014 03:07 PM PST MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti made Gareth Bale unavailable for Wednesday's 3-0 Copa del Rey victory over Atletico Madrid to fill in for the suspended Cristiano Ronaldo in league play.

Brazil expects troubled WCup stadium to be ready Posted: 05 Feb 2014 03:04 PM PST SAO PAULO (AP) — The southern city of Curitiba is expected to remain in the World Cup despite construction delays on its stadium, Brazilian Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo said Wednesday.

Pope pressured to act on abuse after UN rebuke Posted: 05 Feb 2014 03:03 PM PST VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis came under new pressure Wednesday to punish bishops who covered up for pedophile priests when a U.N. human rights panel accused the Vatican of systematically protecting its reputation instead of looking out for the safety of children.

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