Yahoo! News: World News

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• Slim chance of progress as Russian and Ukrainian leaders meet
• Israeli air strikes kill two Palestinians, 20 wounded
• U.S. prepares military options in Syria against Islamic State
• U.S., Chinese officials to meet at Pentagon after jet intercept
• U.N. accuses Islamic State of mass killings
• Remote, gas-rich islands on Indonesia's South China Sea frontline
• Top Asian News at 12:00 a.m. GMT
• NFL, FIFA join forces to evaluate concussions
• Prosecutors argue against moving Tsarnaev trial
• Freed US reporter's Dad praises son's noble cause
• Sony network hacked, exec's flight diverted
• John Sperling, University of Phoenix founder, dies
• Salvador police detain 12 US-bound Asian migrants
• Vatican: Ex-envoy can be tried by Dominican court
• Murray grits through cramps to win at US Open
• UN expert condemns 'appalling' abuse of Tanzania albinos
• Slain Missouri teen remembered with calls for peace, justice
• Bills to regulate California groundwater use opposed by farmers
• A Florida first: Crocodile attacks couple during late-night dip
• Troubled Libya now faces dueling governments
• West Indies total 338-7 vs in 3rd ODI Bangladesh
• Leaders battle in final Scottish independence debate
• On edge of default, Kyrgios advances at US Open
• Atletico's Simeone suspended 8 games over incident
• Italy striker Mario Balotelli signs for Liverpool
• Businesses: Quake cleanup shouldn't deter tourists
• Zimbabwe central bank calls for change as investment slumps
• Jovetic double helps City beat Liverpool 3-1
• TS Cristobal slowly moving away from Bahamas
• California wine country quake losses seen in the billions
• American held in Syria freed after nearly 2 years
• Yankees' Teixeira, Gardner out of lineup
• Defense rests in US Blackwater trial
• Madrid wins, Atletico draws in league openers

Slim chance of progress as Russian and Ukrainian leaders meet Posted: 25 Aug 2014 11:36 AM PDT By Alexei Anishchuk MINSK (Reuters) - Divided by mistrust and mutual recriminations, the Russian and Ukrainian leaders will hold rare talks on Tuesday that offer only a slim hope of progress towards ending five months of separatist war in Ukraine. Since Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko last met on June 6 in France, Ukraine has turned the tide of the conflict and largely encircled pro-Russian rebels holding out in two cities in the east of the former Soviet republic. Ukraine accused Russia on Monday of sending soldiers across the border to open a new front, a charge that Moscow dismissed as the latest salvo in a campaign of misinformation. Russia has consistently denied arming or fighting alongside the separatists.

Israeli air strikes kill two Palestinians, 20 wounded Posted: 25 Aug 2014 04:01 PM PDT By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Allyn Fisher-Ilan GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli air strikes launched before dawn on Tuesday killed two Palestinians and destroyed much of one of Gaza's tallest apartment and office buildings, setting off huge explosions and wounding 20 people, Palestinian health officials said. Israel had no immediate comment on the attacks that took place as Egyptian mediators stepped up efforts to achieve an elusive ceasefire to end seven weeks of fighting. Palestinian health officials say 2,125 people, most of them civilians, including more than 490 children, have been killed in Gaza since July 8, when Israel launched an offensive with the declared aim of ending rocket fire into its territory. Sixty-four Israeli soldiers and four civilians in Israel have been killed.

U.S. prepares military options in Syria against Islamic State Posted: 25 Aug 2014 04:57 PM PDT The United States is preparing military options, including surveillance flights, to pressure Islamic State in Syria, U.S. President Barack Obama has so far sought a limited military campaign in Iraq focused on protecting American diplomats and civilians under direct threat. Still, officials have not ruled out escalating military action against the Islamic State militant group, which has increased its overt threats against the United States. General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week that Islamic State would eventually need to be addressed on "both sides of what is essentially at this point a non-existent border" between Syria and Iraq.

U.S., Chinese officials to meet at Pentagon after jet intercept Posted: 25 Aug 2014 03:52 PM PDT Last Tuesday, a Chinese fighter pilot flew acrobatic maneuvers around the U.S. Navy's P-8 Poseidon anti-submarine and reconnaissance plane, crossing over and under it in international airspace over the South China Sea, the Pentagon said. China's sovereignty claims over the strategic stretch of mineral-rich water off its southern coast and to the east of mainland Southeast Asia set it directly against U.S.

U.N. accuses Islamic State of mass killings Posted: 25 Aug 2014 01:39 PM PDT By Stephanie Nebehay and Ahmed Rasheed GENEVA/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The United Nations on Monday condemned "appalling, widespread" crimes by Islamic State forces in Iraq, including mass executions of prisoners that could amount to war crimes. U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay condemned "grave, horrific human rights violations" being committed by Islamic State, a Sunni Muslim group which has seized large areas of Iraq and Syria to the alarm of the Baghdad government and its allies in the West.

Remote, gas-rich islands on Indonesia's South China Sea frontline Posted: 25 Aug 2014 04:05 PM PDT By Andrew R.C. Marshall RANAI Indonesia (Reuters) - The word "sleepy" could have been invented for Ranai, the largest town in Indonesia's remote and sparsely populated Natuna archipelago. Nearby beaches lie pristine and empty, waiting for tourists.  From Ranai, it takes an imaginative leap to see Natuna - a scattering of 157 mostly uninhabited islands off the northwest coast of Borneo - as a future flashpoint in the escalating dispute over ownership of the South China Sea, one of the world's busiest waterways. Lying just inside its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone is the East Natuna gas field, one of the world's largest untapped reserves. Jakarta's foreign ministry insists there is no problem with China over the status of Natuna, but the Indonesian military has in recent months struck a more assertive tone.

Top Asian News at 12:00 a.m. GMT Posted: 25 Aug 2014 05:02 PM PDT BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's junta leader, who seized power in a military coup three months ago, officially assumed his new post as prime minister on Monday following an endorsement from the country's monarch. During a ceremony in Bangkok, Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha accepted a written royal command issued by King Bhumibol Adulyadej certifying his appointment as the country's 29th premier. Bhumibol, who is 86 and in poor health, was not present at the ceremony.

NFL, FIFA join forces to evaluate concussions Posted: 25 Aug 2014 04:57 PM PDT NEW YORK (AP) — Medical officials from the NFL, FIFA and other sports organizations are banding together to look into better ways to identify, manage and treat concussions.

Prosecutors argue against moving Tsarnaev trial Posted: 25 Aug 2014 04:55 PM PDT BOSTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors are disputing arguments from lawyers for marathon bombing suspect Dzohkhar Tsarnaev that he cannot receive a fair trial in Boston.

Freed US reporter's Dad praises son's noble cause Posted: 25 Aug 2014 04:53 PM PDT JOINVILLE-LE-PONT, France (AP) — The overjoyed father of the American journalist freed by Islamic militants said Monday that his son and others who venture into dangerous lands like Syria deserve praise for wanting to "bear witness ... tell the truth about what's going on."

Sony network hacked, exec's flight diverted Posted: 25 Aug 2014 04:53 PM PDT DALLAS (AP) — Hackers attacked Sony's PlayStation Network and apparently disrupted the travel plans of a top company executive by going on Twitter to suggest that there was a bomb on his American Airlines plane.

John Sperling, University of Phoenix founder, dies Posted: 25 Aug 2014 04:47 PM PDT PHOENIX (AP) — John G. Sperling was in his teens — illiterate and the survivor of a childhood filled with illness — when a shipmate in the Merchant Marine taught him to read.

Salvador police detain 12 US-bound Asian migrants Posted: 25 Aug 2014 04:41 PM PDT SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Salvadoran police have detained two Nicaraguan men who authorities say were transporting nine Nepalese and three Bangladeshi migrants who were bound for the United States.

Vatican: Ex-envoy can be tried by Dominican court Posted: 25 Aug 2014 04:36 PM PDT VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican said Monday that its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, accused of sexually abusing young boys in the Caribbean country, had lost his diplomatic immunity and could be tried by Dominican or other courts.

Murray grits through cramps to win at US Open Posted: 25 Aug 2014 04:34 PM PDT NEW YORK (AP) — Spinning in 70 mph second serves, grabbing at his hamstring during points, Andy Murray gritted his way through head-to-toe cramps to win at the U.S. Open.

UN expert condemns 'appalling' abuse of Tanzania albinos Posted: 25 Aug 2014 04:27 PM PDT A UN expert Monday condemned the abuse of young albinos in government care centres in Tanzania, a country where many are killed and their body parts sold as lucky charms. At least 74 albinos have been murdered in the east African country since 2000. After a spike in killings in 2009, the government placed youngsters in children's homes in a desperate effort to defend them, Alicia Londono, of the UN human rights office, told reporters. "It was a protective measure, and welcome at the beginning," said Londono, who has just returned from an inspection tour in Tanzania.

Slain Missouri teen remembered with calls for peace, justice Posted: 25 Aug 2014 04:15 PM PDT By Edward McAllister and Nick Carey ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - Family and supporters of Michael Brown on Monday celebrated the life of the black teenager slain by a white officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in a music-filled funeral service ringing with calls for peace and police reforms. Brown's body lay in a black and gold casket at the Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church, topped with the St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap he was wearing when he was killed on Aug. 9. People jammed inside the modern red-brick church and gathered outside on Dr. Martin Luther King Drive in St. Louis for the celebration, a markedly different scene from the violent protests that rocked the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson after the police shooting of the unarmed 18-year-old Brown. "It was real spiritual," said Mike Montgomery, a black city employee who said he took the day off from work to attend.

Bills to regulate California groundwater use opposed by farmers Posted: 25 Aug 2014 04:14 PM PDT A package of bills aimed at regulating drought-parched California's stressed groundwater supplies has come under fire from agricultural interests, injecting doubt into the measures' fates in the waning days of the state's legislative session this week. The bills, which would allow the state to take over management of underground aquifers and water accessed via wells, tighten oversight of water at a time when groundwater levels are shrinking in the third year of a catastrophic drought. "If we don't get started on fixing this problem we are going to find ourselves in a very dire situation, especially if drought persists," said Andrew Fahlund, deputy director of the California Water Foundation, which supports the two bills in the package. Farmers in California's agricultural breadbasket rely on water from wells to irrigate their crops when the state cuts back on supplies from streams and the fragile San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta.

A Florida first: Crocodile attacks couple during late-night dip Posted: 25 Aug 2014 04:04 PM PDT Lisset Rendon, 23, was bitten in her left shoulder before she could struggle out of the crocodile's jaws, after she and Alejandro Jimenez, 26, jumped into a canal, Jorge Pino, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "They started swimming and apparently at some point they came face-to-face with a nine-foot crocodile," Pino said. Though Florida is well known for incidents involving its large alligator population, American crocodiles number less than 2,000 and live mostly in the southeastern region near the Everglades. Another couple in an unconfirmed 2011 attack claimed a crocodile flipped their kayak as they paddled through the Florida Keys.

Troubled Libya now faces dueling governments Posted: 25 Aug 2014 04:02 PM PDT CAIRO (AP) — Libya's past, Islamist-dominated parliament reconvened Monday and voted to disband the country's current interim government, defying voters who elected its opponents to take over amid ceaseless fighting by rival militias.

West Indies total 338-7 vs in 3rd ODI Bangladesh Posted: 25 Aug 2014 04:01 PM PDT BASSETERRE, St. Kitts and Nevis (AP) — Denesh Ramdin hit a memorable 169 off 121 balls Monday while Darren Bravo struck 124 as West Indies amassed 338-7 off 50 overs against Bangladesh in the third and final one-day international at Warner Park.

Leaders battle in final Scottish independence debate Posted: 25 Aug 2014 04:01 PM PDT Campaign leaders clashed over Scotland's future in a fiery final TV showdown on Monday, with the pro-independence side hoping a strong showing will help vault a stubborn gap in polls. Pro-independence Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond emerged the clear winner in a snap Guardian/ICM poll in which 71 percent said the Scottish first minister had bested his opponent, "No" campaign leader Alistair Darling, excluding "undecideds". The debate was heated, with the two rivals interrupting, challenging and talking over each other on topics that ranged from what currency an independent Scotland would use, oil reserves, defence, to the fate of the National Health Service (NHS). In his opening statement, Salmond underlined the historic nature of the decision, saying that independence would free Scotland from austerity policies and military spending.

On edge of default, Kyrgios advances at US Open Posted: 25 Aug 2014 03:46 PM PDT NEW YORK (AP) — Nick Kyrgios understands that if he ever hopes to be considered among the best players in the world, he has to overcome one player: Nick Kyrgios.

Atletico's Simeone suspended 8 games over incident Posted: 25 Aug 2014 03:45 PM PDT Spanish champion Atletico Madrid will have to find a way to win without its inspirational coach for the next month.

Italy striker Mario Balotelli signs for Liverpool Posted: 25 Aug 2014 03:41 PM PDT Liverpool signed Italy striker Mario Balotelli from AC Milan for 16 million pounds ($26.5 million) on Monday, taking a calculated gamble on a headline-grabbing player known as much for his controversies as his goals.

Businesses: Quake cleanup shouldn't deter tourists Posted: 25 Aug 2014 03:40 PM PDT NAPA, California (AP) — Businesses in California's wine capital on Monday mopped up thousands of dollars in high-end vintages, swept glass from ghostly downtown streets ordinarily bustling with tourists and rushed to reopen in advance of the summer's last holiday weekend, following a severe earthquake that damaged wineries, historic buildings and hotels.

Zimbabwe central bank calls for change as investment slumps Posted: 25 Aug 2014 03:32 PM PDT Foreign investment in Zimbabwe more than halved in the first six months of the year, the central bank chief said Monday, calling for the country to "fight the negative perception" that was scaring off capital. Central Bank chief John Mangudya said Zimbabwe needed to come up with credible policies and fight negative perceptions to attract desperately needed capital as the country battles economic crisis. "Investment inflows into Zimbabwe have remained subdued due to the perceived country risk," Mangudya said in a monetary policy statement. Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980, his more than three decades in power starting amid optimism but eventually characterised by corruption, enduring economic crisis and brutal crackdowns against political opposition.

Jovetic double helps City beat Liverpool 3-1 Posted: 25 Aug 2014 03:28 PM PDT MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Sitting in the executive seats high up at Etihad Stadium, Mario Balotelli began life at Liverpool by watching his new team ruthlessly dismantled by the club he left 19 months ago.

TS Cristobal slowly moving away from Bahamas Posted: 25 Aug 2014 03:24 PM PDT The spinning center of Tropical Storm Cristobal was slowly moving away from the central Bahamas on Monday, leaving behind severe flooding that marooned several communities across a swath of soaked Caribbean islands.

California wine country quake losses seen in the billions Posted: 25 Aug 2014 03:24 PM PDT By Christina Farr and Robin Respaut NAPA Calif. (Reuters) - The strong earthquake that jolted residents of California's historic Napa Valley wine country out of their beds in the wee hours on Sunday caused insured property losses likely to run in the hundreds of millions of dollars, but the region's economic losses will be several times that amount, experts said on Monday. The magnitude 6.0 quake, the biggest to hit California's Bay Area in 25 years, struck before dawn on Sunday near Napa, injuring more than 200 people and damaging dozens of buildings in the picturesque community northeast of San Francisco. At least 49 buildings in Napa, a town of 77,000 residents, were "red-tagged" as unsafe to enter, including the Napa Senior Center and the local courthouse, and that figure was expected to rise as additional structures were inspected, officials said. The quake struck just as the grape-harvesting season is getting under way in Napa County, a significant wine-producing area that generates thousands of jobs in the region.

American held in Syria freed after nearly 2 years Posted: 25 Aug 2014 03:20 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — As the U.S. mourned an American journalist beheaded by Islamic militants, Americans found something of a reprieve with the release of another freelance reporter who had been held hostage for nearly two years by an al-Qaida-linked group in Syria.

Yankees' Teixeira, Gardner out of lineup Posted: 25 Aug 2014 03:15 PM PDT KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira is out of the starting lineup so he can rest a sore left hamstring.

Defense rests in US Blackwater trial Posted: 25 Aug 2014 03:11 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Four Blackwater security guards on Monday rested their defense in the shootings that killed or wounded more than 30 Iraqis seven years ago in Baghdad.

Madrid wins, Atletico draws in league openers Posted: 25 Aug 2014 03:03 PM PDT BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo scored from long range to seal Real Madrid's 2-0 victory over the promoted Cordoba on Monday, while Atletico Madrid was held 0-0 at Rayo Vallecano as it stumbled at the start of its Spanish league title defense.

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