Yahoo! News: World News

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• Iraq's Maliki finally steps aside, paving way for new government
• Under artillery fire, Ukraine rebels switch their leaders
• Pakistan's Quetta airport hit by deadly bomb and gun attack
• Renewed Gaza truce holds after rocky start
• Japanese cabinet ministers visit shrine to war dead on anniversary of World War Two defeat
• North Korea fires three short-range rockets as Pope visits South Korea
• Loan payment delayed for Puerto Rico power company
• Maliki, Iraq's rebel-turned-PM who fought to the end
• Evidence suggests Ebola toll vastly underestimated: WHO
• Media: Thailand bans surrogate babies from leaving
• Top Asian News at 12:00 a.m. GMT
• Hunters set to stalk alligators for first time in Florida wildlife preserve
• Gunn Yang advances to US Amateur quarterfinals
• Argentina seeks charges in US firm's plant closing
• Villegas takes 1-stroke lead at Wyndham
• Thompson, Lee share LPGA Championship lead
• Santos endorses medical marijuana for Colombia
• Puerto Rico routs Australia 16-3 in Little League
• Officials: Iraq's al-Maliki to back new PM
• Sept. 11 suspect pushes for details of FBI inquiry
• Germany, France to send aid to Iraqi Kurds
• UN chief urges meeting on nuclear-free Mideast
• WHO: Ebola toll may 'vastly underestimate' crisis
• Haiti tense after summons issued for ex-president
• Obama says Sinjar siege broken, some personnel to leave Iraq
• Yemen's AQAP calls on Islamists to target America after Iraq air strikes
• S.Africa's Zuma shifts blame on private residence upgrade
• Israel blocks rights group as alternative to military service
• Thousands of Israelis protest war's failure to halt Gaza rockets
• Hundreds of Syrian refugees leave Turkish city after clashes
• Police records hint at issues before Bali death
• Exclusive: Emergency food drops eyed for quarantined Ebola region of West Africa
• White House commends al-Maliki for stepping aside
• Obama: No Iraq rescue; further airdrops unlikely
• Iraq's Maliki concedes defeat, backs PM designate

Iraq's Maliki finally steps aside, paving way for new government Posted: 14 Aug 2014 04:59 PM PDT By Raheem Salman and Michael Georgy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Nuri al-Maliki finally bowed to pressure within Iraq and beyond on Thursday and stepped down as prime minister, paving the way for a new coalition that world and regional powers hope can quash a Sunni Islamist insurgency that threatens Baghdad. Maliki ended eight years of often divisive, sectarian rule and endorsed fellow Shi'ite Haider al-Abadi in a televised speech during which he stood next to his successor and spoke of the grave threat from Sunni Islamic State militants who have taken over large areas of northern Iraq. "I announce before you today, to ease the movement of the political process and the formation of the new government, the withdrawal of my candidacy in favour of brother Dr. Haider al-Abadi," Maliki said. Maliki's decision was likely to please Iraq's Sunni minority, which dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein's iron rule but was sidelined by Maliki, a relative unknown when he came to power in 2006 with U.S. backing.

Under artillery fire, Ukraine rebels switch their leaders Posted: 14 Aug 2014 11:46 AM PDT By Thomas Grove DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - Two of the most senior rebels battling government troops in eastern Ukraine quit on Thursday, deepening the disarray in a pro-Moscow separatist movement that is being pushed back by an Ukrainian military offensive. The resignations came on the same day that artillery shells landed for the first time since the conflict began in the centre of the eastern city of Donetsk, the separatists' main stronghold. The reverses suffered by the rebels could force a tactical rethink by Russian President Vladimir Putin. While he has denied directly helping the rebels, his strategy of keeping Ukraine from integrating with the West has benefited from having a part of the country under the control of pro-Moscow separatists.

Pakistan's Quetta airport hit by deadly bomb and gun attack Posted: 14 Aug 2014 12:38 PM PDT By Gul Yousufzai QUETTA Pakistan (Reuters) - A man was killed and two policemen were wounded in an attack on Quetta airport in western Pakistan on Thursday night, officials said, but the attackers did not breach the perimeter. He was killed near an airforce base that shares a runway with the civilian airport. Sarfraz Bugti, home minister in the provincial government of Baluchistan, confirmed an attack had taken place. Four bombs were defused near another air force base in Quetta called Khalid, he said.

Renewed Gaza truce holds after rocky start Posted: 14 Aug 2014 05:56 AM PDT By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A new, five-day truce between Israel and Hamas appeared to be holding on Thursday despite a shaky start, after both sides agreed to give Egyptian-brokered peace negotiations in Cairo more time to try to end the Gaza war. The Israeli military said Gaza militants had breached the truce by firing eight rockets at Israel shortly after midnight. A senior Hamas official who returned to Gaza from the negotiations in Cairo said they had been tough but expressed some optimism. "There is still a real chance to clinch an agreement," Khalil al-Hayya told reporters, saying that it depended on Israel not "playing with language to void our demands".

Japanese cabinet ministers visit shrine to war dead on anniversary of World War Two defeat Posted: 14 Aug 2014 04:54 PM PDT By Minami Funakoshi and Antoni Slodkowski TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese cabinet ministers paid their respects on Friday at a Tokyo shrine to war dead seen as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, a move likely to anger Asian neighbors and put at risk attempts to improve regional ties. The visit by cabinet officials including Internal affairs Minister Yoshitaka Shindo to the Yasukuni shrine on the 69th anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War Two is likely to prompt more sharp protests from Beijing and Seoul. The shrine honors 14 Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal, as well as Japan's war dead.

North Korea fires three short-range rockets as Pope visits South Korea Posted: 14 Aug 2014 12:06 PM PDT North Korea fired three short-range rockets off its east coast on Thursday, South Korea's Ministry of Defense said, shortly before Pope Francis arrived in Seoul on his first visit to Asia. The rockets were fired from multiple launchers in the North Korean port city of Wonsan and traveled 220 km (135 miles) before landing in waters east of the Korean peninsula, a defense ministry official said. The last rocket was fired 35 minutes before Pope Francis was due to arrive at an air base in Seoul, where the pontiff started a five-day visit to South Korea.

Loan payment delayed for Puerto Rico power company Posted: 14 Aug 2014 05:07 PM PDT SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico's financially struggling public power company won a big reprieve Thursday, announcing that creditors agreed to postpone payment of $671 million worth of bank loans until next year.

Maliki, Iraq's rebel-turned-PM who fought to the end Posted: 14 Aug 2014 05:07 PM PDT Iraq's Nuri al-Maliki, a rebel-turned-leader who rose from anonymous exile to powerful premier widely criticised as authoritarian, fought to the end for another term but lost support and ultimately his office as security collapsed. After a strong showing in April polls, the two-term premier insisted the top job should again be his, but President Fuad Masum tasked Haidar al-Abadi, a member of Maliki's Dawa party, with forming a new government instead. Maliki, a 64-year-old Shiite Arab, vowed to sue Masum, a Kurd, railed against him for allegedly violating the constitution, and ordered a massive security deployment in Baghdad. "I announce before you today... the withdrawal of my candidacy in favour of the brother Doctor Haidar al-Abadi," Maliki said in a televised address on Thursday, with his successor at his side.

Evidence suggests Ebola toll vastly underestimated: WHO Posted: 14 Aug 2014 05:04 PM PDT By Saliou Samb CONAKRY (Reuters) - Staff with the World Health Organisation battling an Ebola outbreak in West Africa see evidence the numbers of reported cases and deaths vastly underestimates the scale of the outbreak, the U.N. agency said on its website on Thursday. The death toll from the world's worst outbreak of Ebola stood on Wednesday at 1,069 from 1,975 confirmed, probable and suspected cases, the agency said. The majority were in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, while four people have died in Nigeria. "WHO is coordinating a massive scaling up of the international response, marshalling support from individual countries, disease control agencies, agencies within the United Nations system, and others." International agencies are looking into emergency food drops and truck convoys to reach hungry people in Liberia and Sierra Leone cordoned off from the outside world to halt the spread of the virus, a top World Bank official said.

Media: Thailand bans surrogate babies from leaving Posted: 14 Aug 2014 05:03 PM PDT CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Four couples from the Unites States and Australia have been prevented from leaving Thailand with surrogate babies as part of a government crackdown on the burgeoning commercial surrogacy industry, an Australian broadcaster reported Friday.

Top Asian News at 12:00 a.m. GMT Posted: 14 Aug 2014 05:02 PM PDT SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Pope Francis called Thursday for peace and unity on the war-divided Korean Peninsula and for both sides to avoid "fruitless" criticisms and shows of force, offering a message of reconciliation at the start of a five-day visit to South Korea that received a stark response from the North. North Korea fired three short-range projectiles into the sea off its eastern coast about an hour before Francis landed in Seoul, and two others a short while later. North Korea has conducted several such tests this year, and it also has a long history of making sure it is not forgotten during high-profile events in the South.

Hunters set to stalk alligators for first time in Florida wildlife preserve Posted: 14 Aug 2014 05:01 PM PDT Eleven hunters, selected at random from 1,203 applicants, will each be allowed to take two alligators from the nearly 150,000-acre Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge between mid-August and early October. Animal rights activists plan to stage protests at the entry to the park on Friday night, when the hunters arrive. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this year approved the hunt after more than a decade of debate. Florida has held alligator hunts in parts of the state since 1988 to help curb growing populations, however this hunt will be inside a wildlife sanctuary that is one of the last remaining pieces of the northern Everglades.

Gunn Yang advances to US Amateur quarterfinals Posted: 14 Aug 2014 05:00 PM PDT JOHNS CREEK, Georgia (AP) — South Korea's Gunn Yang advanced to the U.S. Amateur quarterfinals Thursday, birdieing the final three holes to beat top-ranked Ollie Schniederjans 1 up at Atlanta Athletic Club.

Argentina seeks charges in US firm's plant closing Posted: 14 Aug 2014 05:00 PM PDT BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The government of Argentina is seeking criminal penalties against representatives of a U.S.-based global printing company that abruptly shuttered a plant in the South American country this week.

Villegas takes 1-stroke lead at Wyndham Posted: 14 Aug 2014 04:56 PM PDT GREENSBORO, North Carolina (AP) — Camilo Villegas got away from golf for a little while, and got his game back.

Thompson, Lee share LPGA Championship lead Posted: 14 Aug 2014 04:50 PM PDT PITTSFORD, New York (AP) — Lexi Thompson and South Korea's Meena Lee shot 6-under-66 on Thursday to share the first-round lead in the LPGA Championship, the fourth major championship of the season.

Santos endorses medical marijuana for Colombia Posted: 14 Aug 2014 04:23 PM PDT BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — President Juan Manuel Santos on Thursday endorsed newly introduced legislation that would legalize marijuana for medicinal and therapeutic use in this drug war-afflicted Andean nation.

Puerto Rico routs Australia 16-3 in Little League Posted: 14 Aug 2014 04:22 PM PDT SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pennsylvania (AP) — Abimael Torres hit a grand slam in Puerto Rico's 13-run first inning in a 16-3, four-inning victory over Australia on Thursday in the Little League World Series.

Officials: Iraq's al-Maliki to back new PM Posted: 14 Aug 2014 04:16 PM PDT Embattled Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has agreed to step aside and support his nominated replacement in the post, Shiite lawmakers told The Associated Press on Thursday. If al-Maliki follows through, the move would end a political deadlock that plunged Baghdad into uncertainty as the country fights a Sunni militant insurgency.

Sept. 11 suspect pushes for details of FBI inquiry Posted: 14 Aug 2014 04:14 PM PDT FORT MEADE, Maryland (AP) — The lead attorney for the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 terror attacks said Thursday he might withdraw from the case unless the judge orders the government to divulge details about FBI investigations of defense team members.

Germany, France to send aid to Iraqi Kurds Posted: 14 Aug 2014 04:07 PM PDT Germany will send four planes with humanitarian aid to Kurds in northern Iraq on Friday, the Ministry of Defence said, while France said it would boost support to Kurdish fighters battling Islamic State militants. "The federal government has decided to provide rapid and effective humanitarian aid to people in need in the north of Iraq," it said. Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said this week that Germany may also send non-lethal military hardware such as armoured vehicles, helmets, security vests and night-vision gear.

UN chief urges meeting on nuclear-free Mideast Posted: 14 Aug 2014 03:54 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that the failure to hold a conference on establishing a nuclear-weapons-free-zone in the Middle East this year could jeopardize the success of next year's review of the landmark 1970 agreement aimed at stopping the spread of nuclear arms.

WHO: Ebola toll may 'vastly underestimate' crisis Posted: 14 Aug 2014 03:52 PM PDT MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — There is evidence the numbers of dead and sickened by Ebola in West Africa may "vastly underestimate the magnitude of the outbreak," the World Health Organization said Thursday. The U.N. health agency said it was prepared for the crisis to continue for months.

Haiti tense after summons issued for ex-president Posted: 14 Aug 2014 03:46 PM PDT PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Supporters of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide clashed with U.N. peacekeepers Thursday as the popular former leader faced possible arrest for not providing court-ordered testimony in a criminal investigation.

Obama says Sinjar siege broken, some personnel to leave Iraq Posted: 14 Aug 2014 03:44 PM PDT U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday the Islamist militant siege of Iraq's Mount Sinjar had been broken and most U.S. military personnel sent to assess the situation would be pulled out of Iraq in coming days. "We broke the ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) siege of Mount Sinjar," Obama said. Improved security had allowed large numbers of Yazidis to escape Mount Sinjar, he said, but "some thousands" still needed help. THOUSANDS REMAIN Obama said the majority of military personnel who conducted the assessment of Mount Sinjar would leave Iraq in coming days.

Yemen's AQAP calls on Islamists to target America after Iraq air strikes Posted: 14 Aug 2014 03:43 PM PDT Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, one of the group's deadliest franchises, called on Islamists to target the United States, after Washington launched air strikes in Iraq against Islamist militants who operate as the Islamic State. In a statement published on a Twitter account affiliated with the franchise's local affiliate, Ansar al-Shariah, AQAP said on Thursday: "... We declare our solidarity with our Muslim brothers in Iraq." "We call on all Islamist groups ... to go after America as part of its plan for jihad, militarily, economically, or through the media." "And we call on every Muslim, especially anyone who can enter America, to champion his brothers by going to war against America with everything he can." Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the Twitter account.

S.Africa's Zuma shifts blame on private residence upgrade Posted: 14 Aug 2014 03:40 PM PDT South Africa's President Jacob Zuma Thursday informed parliament that the minister of police should decide if he was liable for the controversial state-funded security upgrades on his private home. Zuma's rural homestead received an approximately $23 million facelift about four years ago, prompting a probe by the public watchdog. The public ombudsman Thuli Madonsela in March ruled that Zuma had "benefited unduly" from the construction, ordering him to pay part of the cost. In a written report to parliament, Zuma said the minister of police should determine if he was "liable for any contribution in respect of the security upgrades," which include an array of non-security features.

Israel blocks rights group as alternative to military service Posted: 14 Aug 2014 03:40 PM PDT By Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel has disqualified its foremost human rights group as a volunteer option for youths who choose civilian national service over military conscription, officials said on Thursday, citing the group's criticism of the Gaza offensive. The government move against B'Tselem, while unlikely to affect the group's operations, reflected growing anger within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rightist coalition at Israeli activism it sees as stoking pro-Palestinian sympathy. Hoping to close ranks with minority Arab citizens and ultra-Orthodox Jews exempted from the draft for ideological reasons, and to accommodate pacifists, Israel has been sponsoring alternative service in public bodies like education and health. Civilian national service volunteers have their living expenses covered by the state and later become eligible for benefits akin to those extended to discharged soldiers.

Thousands of Israelis protest war's failure to halt Gaza rockets Posted: 14 Aug 2014 03:39 PM PDT By Allyn Fisher-Ilan TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Some 10,000 Israelis protested on Thursday in a Tel Aviv square against what they see as the failure of a five-week Gaza war to decisively halt rocket and mortar fire at southern towns bordering on the Palestinian coastal territory. Many demonstrators were bused in from parts of Israel hardest hit by rocket barrages in the recent fighting, joined by supporters in the Israeli business hub that also came under rocket fire on a daily basis in the fighting since July 8. Two successive truces since Monday, expected to last through Aug. 19, have largely quieted the guns, after 1,945 Palestinians, most of them civilians, 64 Israeli soldiers and three civilians in Israel were killed. Some complained of feeling betrayed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, which has pledged that the war would restore calm to southern Israel, in addition to destroying underground tunnels seen as launching pads for future attacks.

Hundreds of Syrian refugees leave Turkish city after clashes Posted: 14 Aug 2014 03:35 PM PDT The Turkish authorities were moving hundreds of Syrian refugees Thursday from the southern city of Gaziantep to camps, after three nights of violent protests by locals angered by their presence, reports said. Tensions between Turkish residents and Syrian refugees in Gaziantep have flared in recent days since the murder of a Turkish landlord allegedly stabbed to death by his Syrian tenant. Some 50 Turkish residents in Gaziantep have been arrested over the violent protests, which started on Monday night and have seen anti-riot police fire tear gas to quell the unrest, NTV television said.

Police records hint at issues before Bali death Posted: 14 Aug 2014 03:34 PM PDT CHICAGO (AP) — As Indonesian police question the 19-year-old daughter of a woman whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase in Bali, authorities in an upscale Chicago suburb examined records of 86 incidents in which police were called to the family's house.

Exclusive: Emergency food drops eyed for quarantined Ebola region of West Africa Posted: 14 Aug 2014 03:34 PM PDT By Stella Dawson WASHINGTON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - International agencies are looking into emergency food drops and truck convoys to reach extremely hungry people in Liberia and Sierra Leone, who are cordoned off from the outside world to halt the spread of the Ebola virus, a top World Bank official said on Thursday. Truckers scared of the highly infectious disease halt deliveries. The Mano River region, home to about 1 million people and an epicenter for the deadly disease, is a major concern and the issue was raised on Wednesday with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, said Tim Evans, senior director for health at the World Bank. "There has been a lot of inflation in food prices and a lot of difficulty in getting food to the quarantined population," he said in an interview.

White House commends al-Maliki for stepping aside Posted: 14 Aug 2014 03:30 PM PDT EDGARTOWN, Massachusetts (AP) — The White House is commending Iraq's incumbent prime minister for stepping aside.

Obama: No Iraq rescue; further airdrops unlikely Posted: 14 Aug 2014 03:23 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Thursday promised to expand U.S. humanitarian relief to Iraqis threatened by the advancing army of the Islamic State militants. He took credit for alleviating the genocide threat to thousands trapped on a mountaintop but said the situation "remains dire" throughout the country.

Iraq's Maliki concedes defeat, backs PM designate Posted: 14 Aug 2014 03:23 PM PDT Iraq's divisive premier Nuri al-Maliki dropped his bid to stay in power Thursday, bowing to huge domestic and international pressure two months into a jihadist-led offensive threatening to tear the country apart. The two-term premier threw in the towel after an acrimonious political battle and backed his designated successor Haidar al-Abadi, a fellow member of the Shiite party Dawa. "I announce before you today... the withdrawal of my candidacy in favour of the brother Doctor Haidar al-Abadi," he said in a televised address, with Abadi standing next to him. Quelling fears a desperate bid to cling to power could worsen what is already Iraq's worst crisis in years, Maliki said he was stepping aside to "facilitate the progress of the political process and the formation of the new government."

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