Yahoo! News: World News

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• Gaza ceasefire holds on second day, extension talks under way
• Russia bans all U.S. food, EU fruit and vegetables in sanctions response; NATO fears invasion
• Iraqi government air strike on Islamic State court kills 60
• Libyan Congress calls for U.N.-backed ceasefire to end clashes
• Kurds, Islamic State clash near Kurdish regional capital
• Exclusive: U.S. to spend up to $550 million on African rapid response forces
• Caroline Wozniacki advances in Montreal
• AOC appoints Fiona de Jong as secretary general
• Verdicts due against Cambodian Khmer Rouge leaders
• Obama urges enduring cease-fire for Gaza Strip
• Obama: Gazans need 'sense of hope' for future
• Obama: US sanctions are straining Russian economy
• Russia escalates economic battle with U.S., EU with food import ban
• Petition: Strapping iPads to tortoises is cruel
• Report: Russia to block US agricultural imports
• Nigeria rushes to get isolation tents for Ebola
• Venezuela considers selling US oil company Citgo
• Obama: US will help Africa set up peacekeeping force
• Them's fighting words! The politics of place names
• 'Dozens' killed in Boko Haram attack in Nigeria: locals
• Tensions grow in Ukraine over Russia troop buildup
• Obama: Egypt should release Al-Jazeera journalists
• Obama backs Egypt's efforts to extend Israel-Hamas truce
• US Army begins questioning Bergdahl about capture
• New Nigeria Ebola cases amid fears epidemic 'out of control'
• US Army promotes first Vietnamese-American general
• Russia promises 'quite substantial' U.S., EU food import bans
• Expert wants to help nab Russian password thieves
• US Army starts questioning Bergdahl about capture
• UN chief: Gaza deaths and destruction shame world
• Russian troop buildup on Ukraine border fans fears of incursion
• Fear as midnight airstrike hits close to Donetsk centre
• Top Asian News at 10:00 p.m. GMT

Gaza ceasefire holds on second day, extension talks under way Posted: 06 Aug 2014 01:38 PM PDT A 72-hour Gaza ceasefire held on Wednesday and Israel said it was ready to extend the deal as Egyptian mediators pursued talks with Israelis and Palestinians on an enduring end to a war that has devastated the Islamist Hamas-dominated enclave. The Palestinian team, led by an official from Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, includes envoys from Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group. An Israeli official said Israel "has expressed its readiness to extend the truce under its current terms" beyond a Friday deadline for the three-day deal that took effect on Tuesday. Hamas had no immediate comment.

Russia bans all U.S. food, EU fruit and vegetables in sanctions response; NATO fears invasion Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:48 PM PDT By Polina Devitt and Maria Tsvetkova MOSCOW/DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - Russia will ban all imports of food from the United States and all fruit and vegetables from Europe, the state news agency reported on Wednesday, a sweeping response to Western sanctions imposed over its support for rebels in Ukraine. The measures will hit consumers at home who rely on cheap imports, and on farmers in the West for whom Russia is a big market. Moscow is by far the biggest buyer of European fruit and vegetables and the second biggest importer of U.S. poultry. RIA quoted the spokesman for Russia's food safety watchdog VPSS, Alexei Alexeenko, as saying all European fruit and vegetables and all produce from the United States would be included in a ban drawn up on the orders of President Vladimir Putin to punish countries that imposed sanctions on Russia.

Iraqi government air strike on Islamic State court kills 60 Posted: 06 Aug 2014 11:19 AM PDT An Iraqi government air strike on a Sharia court set up by Islamic State militants in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul killed 60 people on Wednesday, the office of the prime minister's military spokesman said. The Islamic State judge who ran the court was among those killed, the spokesman said. Hospital officials and witnesses said earlier that the air strike had killed 50 people in a makeshift prison set up by the Islamic State, which seized large chunks of Iraq in June.

Libyan Congress calls for U.N.-backed ceasefire to end clashes Posted: 06 Aug 2014 03:08 PM PDT By Ayman Al-Warfalli and Feras Bosalum BENGHAZI Libya (Reuters) - Libya's newly elected House of Representatives on Wednesday called for an immediate ceasefire under United Nations supervision to end three weeks of clashes among rival armed factions that have killed more than 200 people. After the worst fighting in Tripoli and Benghazi since the 2011 uprising ousted Muammar Gaddafi, Western governments have mostly closed up their embassies, fearing the North African state is edging toward another civil war. Lawmakers, meeting in the eastern town of Tobruk far from the clashes in Tripoli and Benghazi, on Wednesday voted to back a proposal for an immediate ceasefire that would be monitored by the United Nations.

Kurds, Islamic State clash near Kurdish regional capital Posted: 06 Aug 2014 12:02 PM PDT By Ahmed Rasheed and Isra' al-Rubei'i BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Kurdish forces attacked Islamic State fighters near the Kurdish regional capital of Arbil in northern Iraq on Wednesday in a change of tactics supported by the Iraqi central government to try to break the Islamists' momentum. The attack 40 km (25 miles) southwest of Arbil came after the Sunni militants inflicted a humiliating defeat on the Kurds on Sunday with a rapid advance through three towns, prompting Iraq's prime minister to order his air force for the first time to back the Kurdish forces. Now we are clashing with the Islamic State in Makhmur," said Jabbar Yawar, secretary-general of the ministry in charge of the Kurdish peshmerga fighters. The location of the clashes puts the Islamic State fighters closer than they have ever been to the Kurdish semi-autonomous region since they swept through northern Iraq almost unopposed in June.

Exclusive: U.S. to spend up to $550 million on African rapid response forces Posted: 06 Aug 2014 03:11 PM PDT The United States will announce on Wednesday plans to spend $110 million a year over the next three to five years to help African nations develop peacekeeping forces that can be rapidly deployed to head off militant threats and other crises, an Obama administration official told Reuters. President Barack Obama is expected to unveil the program during the third day of a summit of African heads of state in Washington, along with another U.S. plan to spend an initial $65 million to bolster security institutions in Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Tunisia, the official said. The United States would partner with Senegal, Ghana, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda to develop rapid response forces. Those forces would be ready to deploy as part of United Nations' or African Union missions, the official said.

Caroline Wozniacki advances in Montreal Posted: 06 Aug 2014 05:08 PM PDT MONTREAL (AP) — Caroline Wozniacki breezed through her second match in a row with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Klara Koukalova on Wednesday to reach the third round of the Rogers Cup.

AOC appoints Fiona de Jong as secretary general Posted: 06 Aug 2014 05:02 PM PDT SYDNEY (AP) — The Australian Olympic Committee has appointed Fiona de Jong as its secretary general, making her the first woman to take charge of the organization's administrative and financial roles.

Verdicts due against Cambodian Khmer Rouge leaders Posted: 06 Aug 2014 05:00 PM PDT PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Three and a half decades after the genocidal rule of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge ended, a U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal is due to deliver its first verdicts Thursday in a historic case against the only two leaders of the regime left to stand trial.

Obama urges enduring cease-fire for Gaza Strip Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:59 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — An enduring stability between Israel and Palestinians is not in the near future, and will require leaders on both sides of the generations-long dispute to take political risks for the sake of peace and prosperity, President Barack Obama said Wednesday.

Obama: Gazans need 'sense of hope' for future Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:56 PM PDT US President Barack Obama said Wednesday that the people of Gaza need greater hope for the future, as he urged the extension of an Israel-Hamas ceasefire. "The US goal right now would be to make sure that the ceasefire holds, that Gaza can begin the process of rebuilding," Obama told a news conference. Obama said that the United States was supporting ceasefire talks but added: "Long-term, there has to be a recognition that Gaza cannot sustain itself permanently closed off from the world." His stance has drawn unusually sharp rebukes from hardliners in Israel.

Obama: US sanctions are straining Russian economy Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:55 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Wednesday that U.S. sanctions levied against Russia over its actions in Ukraine are working but that Washington would face a much different set of questions about how to respond if Moscow invaded eastern Ukraine.

Russia escalates economic battle with U.S., EU with food import ban Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:45 PM PDT By Polina Devitt and Dmitry Zhdannikov MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has escalated an economic battle set off by the crisis in Ukraine with a ban on all food imports from the United States and on fruit and vegetables from the European Union, dropping any pretence these might be for food safety reasons. The import ban, reported by state news agency Ria Novosti on Wednesday, comes after Russia President Vladimir Putin ordered retaliation for Western sanctions against Moscow.

Petition: Strapping iPads to tortoises is cruel Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:38 PM PDT ASPEN, Colorado (AP) — A Colorado art museum is standing by an upcoming exhibit featuring three tortoises with iPads mounted on their backs, despite calls from animal-rights activists to call off the exhibit as animal abuse.

Report: Russia to block US agricultural imports Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:37 PM PDT MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday hit back hard against countries that have imposed sanctions over the Ukraine crisis, ordering trade cuts that an official said would include a ban on all imports of agricultural products from the United States.

Nigeria rushes to get isolation tents for Ebola Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:35 PM PDT LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian authorities rushed to obtain isolation tents Wednesday in anticipation of more Ebola infections as they disclosed five more cases of the virus and a death in Africa's most populous nation, where officials were racing to keep the gruesome disease confined to a small group of patients.

Venezuela considers selling US oil company Citgo Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:35 PM PDT CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's government confirmed on Tuesday that it is considering the sale of its oil refining and distribution network in the U.S. amid a worsening economic crisis.

Obama: US will help Africa set up peacekeeping force Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:32 PM PDT The United States will help African nations set up a rapid response force to support United Nations and African Union peacekeeping missions, President Barack Obama said Wednesday. Obama, closing a summit with 50 African countries in Washington, said the force could be dispatched rapidly in support of UN-backed missions on the continent. "We will join with six countries that have demonstrated a track record as peacekeepers," Obama told a news conference. "We're going to invite countries beyond Africa to join us in supporting this effort because the entire world has a stake in the success of peacekeeping in Africa," he said.

Them's fighting words! The politics of place names Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:31 PM PDT TOKYO (AP) — Is it the Persian Gulf or the Arabian Gulf? Mount McKinley or Denali? Mumbai or Bombay?

'Dozens' killed in Boko Haram attack in Nigeria: locals Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:30 PM PDT Boko Haram gunmen attacked Nigeria's restive northeastern town of Gwoza on Wednesday leaving dozens dead, residents said, in the latest violence blamed on the Islamists. The extremists raided the town, some 135 kilometres (83 miles) from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state before dawn, forcing residents to flee their homes, locals said. "Dozens of our people have been killed by the attackers, some were slaughtered and many others shot with guns," resident James Mshelia told AFP. "They have scared hundreds of residents to flee to the mountains along Nigeria and Cameroon borders," said Francis Mbala, a former vice chairman of Gwoza local government.

Tensions grow in Ukraine over Russia troop buildup Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:28 PM PDT DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — The steadily advancing Ukrainian army is setting its sights on the largest rebel-held city in eastern Ukraine, while Western officials on Wednesday warned that a Russian military buildup on Ukraine's border could herald a major incursion to protect the separatists.

Obama: Egypt should release Al-Jazeera journalists Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:24 PM PDT US President Barack Obama called Wednesday for the release of three Al-Jazeera journalists sentenced to prison in Egypt for allegedly defaming the country. Speaking at the end of a US-Africa summit, Obama said that the United States insists on the right of journalists to practice their trade as a critical element of civil society. "In the specific issue of the Al-Jazeera journalists, we have been clear both publicly and privately, they should be released," Obama said at a news conference. Australian journalist Peter Greste, Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed were convicted in June of aiding the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood and spreading false news that portrayed Egypt as being in a state of "civil war."

Obama backs Egypt's efforts to extend Israel-Hamas truce Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:24 PM PDT President Barack Obama expressed support on Wednesday for Egyptian efforts in Cairo to broker a longer-term Gaza ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians and said it was important to make sure that the current temporary 72-hour truce holds. Speaking after an Africa summit in Washington, Obama called for developing a "formula" that assures Israel that Gaza will no longer be used for launching cross-border Hamas rocket attacks while also helping to ease hardships of Gaza's population, which suffered heavy civilian casualties during the latest conflict. "We will continue to be trying to work as diligently as we can to move the process forward," Obama told a news conference.

US Army begins questioning Bergdahl about capture Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:20 PM PDT HOUSTON (AP) — The U.S. Army has begun questioning Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl about his disappearance in Afghanistan that led to five years in captivity by the Taliban, his attorney and an Army spokeswoman said Wednesday.

New Nigeria Ebola cases amid fears epidemic 'out of control' Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:09 PM PDT The death toll of the Ebola epidemic neared 1,000 on Wednesday as fears rose that the disease is taking hold in Africa's most populous nation of Nigeria, after a second death among seven confirmed cases in Lagos. The spread of the disease comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) met in an emergency session in Geneva to decide whether to declare an international crisis. The latest official toll across west Africa hit 932 deaths since the start of the year, it said on Wednesday, with 1,711 confirmed cases, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The death of a nurse in Lagos, a megacity of more than 20 million, came as 45 deaths were confirmed across west Africa between Saturday and Monday, with aid agencies, including Doctors Without Borders, saying the terrifying tropical disease is out of control.

US Army promotes first Vietnamese-American general Posted: 06 Aug 2014 03:57 PM PDT FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — A Fort Hood officer has become the first Vietnamese-American to reach the rank of general in the U.S. Army.

Russia promises 'quite substantial' U.S., EU food import bans Posted: 06 Aug 2014 03:57 PM PDT By Polina Devitt and Dmitry Zhdannikov MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will ban all imports of U.S. food products as well as fruit and vegetables from the European Union after President Vladimir Putin ordered retaliation for Western sanctions against Moscow, a state news agency reported on Wednesday. With Russia a major buyer of food from the United States and Europe, the ban marks a deep escalation of an economic tit-for-tat set off by the crisis in Ukraine, which has brought East-West relations to their lowest since the Cold War.

Expert wants to help nab Russian password thieves Posted: 06 Aug 2014 03:32 PM PDT LAS VEGAS (AP) — The hackers are a tight knit group, 10 or 11. They live in a Russian town, and have real jobs. But in their down time, the cybercriminals have spent the past seven months gathering a hoard of personal data, stealing 1.2 billion user names and passwords in a series of Internet heists affecting 420,000 websites, according to Alex Holden, Chief Information Security Officer for Hold Security, whose firm uncovered the breach.

US Army starts questioning Bergdahl about capture Posted: 06 Aug 2014 03:32 PM PDT HOUSTON (AP) — The U.S. Army and a defense attorney say military investigators have begun questioning Bowe Bergdahl about his disappearance in Afghanistan that led to five years in captivity by the Taliban.

UN chief: Gaza deaths and destruction shame world Posted: 06 Aug 2014 03:25 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demanded an end to what he called the senseless cycle of suffering in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Wednesday, telling the General Assembly that "the massive deaths and destruction in Gaza have shocked and shamed the world."

Russian troop buildup on Ukraine border fans fears of incursion Posted: 06 Aug 2014 03:19 PM PDT A NATO warning of a Russian troop buildup on the border with Ukraine fueled fears Wednesday of a major incursion, as Kiev stepped up moves to recapture the rebel stronghold of Donetsk, hit for the first time by an air strike. On the sanctions front, Russia retaliated Wednesday for recent US and EU measures, slapping one-year bans and limits on food and agricultural imports from the countries involved. NATO, whose secretary general was set to visit Kiev on Thursday, said Russia had increased the number of "combat-ready" troops on its border with Ukraine to 20,000 from 12,000 in mid-July.

Fear as midnight airstrike hits close to Donetsk centre Posted: 06 Aug 2014 03:03 PM PDT A midnight air strike near the heart of rebel-held Donetsk provided a terrifying signal for residents that the conflict between insurgents and government forces is drawing closer to their doorsteps. Valentina Petrovna, a middle-aged woman, peered into a crater that had suddenly appeared not far from her house on Wednesday morning.

Top Asian News at 10:00 p.m. GMT Posted: 06 Aug 2014 03:03 PM PDT LONGTOUSHAN, China (AP) — Minutes after a deadly earthquake shook western China, disaster teams were on the move. Within hours, food, tents, and even a 4G cellphone network were in place, showing how a fast-developing China can bring its plentiful experience and enormous resources to bear in handling natural disasters. Yet while the military is leading the relief operation — seizing on the opportunity to strut its considerable stuff and show its commitment to the public good — growing numbers of volunteers from among students, social groups and private businesses are a prominent element of the effort, even if they sometimes get underfoot.

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