Yahoo! News: World News

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• Damascus skirts transition talk as Aleppo clashes intensify
• Protesters demand fall of Egypt's government over islands deal
• Second big quake hits southern Japan, people flee onto streets
• Four soldiers killed, two wounded in bomb attack in southeast Turkey: sources
• Raucous Rousseff impeachment process begins in Brazil
• Germany's Merkel criticized for allowing prosecution of comedian who mocked Erdogan
• Drug manufacturer must pay $125M in health care fraud case
• Tornado kills 2 people in Uruguay
• Protests after Macedonia snap elections set for June
• U.S. state prosecutors met with climate groups as Exxon probes expanded
• Guatemalan ex-president linked to new scandal
• Greece must stop locking up child migrants, charity warns ahead of pope's visit
• WADA revokes Moscow testing laboratory's accreditation
• Top-ranked Jason Day tied for lead in RBC Heritage
• Venezuela moves clocks forward 30 min to save power
• Rousseff scraps impeachment broadcast after criticism
• White tiger kills keeper, escapes El Salvador zoo
• UN envoy says peace in Yemen has never been so close
• Stigma dogs businessmen going it alone in Cuba
• U.S. Air Force looks to help Latin America fight illegal drugs
• Panama Papers claim new victim as Spain minister quits
• After missile failure, higher possibility of North Korea nuclear test
• Rio contest offers a room with an Olympic view
• Brazil launches rowdy Rousseff impeachment debate
• US bars government employees from traveling to Acapulco
• Islamist militants in Philippines set deadline to execute foreign captives
• US Coast Guard seizes $33M worth of coke in Caribbean waters
• Rights commission eyes new entity on missing Mexico students
• Top Asian News 9:51 p.m. GMT
• 2nd strong quake hits southern Japan; some reported trapped
• DR Congo migrants in limbo as C.Rica, Panama reject them
• Larrazabal takes 2-shot lead at Spanish Open
• Blatter angered by claim he was silent about FIFA corruption
• PJ Harvey, rock poet, turns journalist with eye on decay
• Cubans relive Obama visit with 'offline Internet'
• NBA to begin selling jersey sponsorships in 2017-18
• Impaled polar bear sculpture highlights global warming threat
• Iran says West not sticking to commitments on easing sanctions

Damascus skirts transition talk as Aleppo clashes intensify Posted: 15 Apr 2016 12:59 PM PDT By John Irish and Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - Syria's chief government negotiator sought on Friday to steer a new round of peace talks away from the political transition that U.N. mediators hope to promote, as increased fighting near Aleppo threatened to undermine a shaky truce. Bashar Ja'afari said his focus was to submit amendments to a framework document for the talks, prompting accusations from the head of the opposition negotiating team that Damascus was "not serious" about seeking a political solution to the five-year conflict. The Syrian government, buoyed by Russian and Iranian military support, arrived in Geneva six days after U.N. mediator Staffan de Mistura had hoped to begin negotiations.

Protesters demand fall of Egypt's government over islands deal Posted: 15 Apr 2016 12:32 PM PDT By Ahmed Aboulenein and Eric Knecht CAIRO (Reuters) - Thousands of Egyptians angered by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's decision to hand over two islands to Saudi Arabia called on Friday for the government to fall, chanting a slogan from the 2011 Arab Spring uprising. In the evening, riot police who had surrounded the site of the biggest demonstration, in the heart of downtown Cairo, dispersed the crowd with tear gas, Reuters witnesses said. Sisi's government prompted an outcry in Egyptian newspapers and on social media last week when it announced an accord that put the uninhabited Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir in Saudi waters.

Second big quake hits southern Japan, people flee onto streets Posted: 15 Apr 2016 04:23 PM PDT By Elaine Lies and Linda Sieg TOKYO (Reuters) - A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck southern Japan early on Saturday, killing at least six people, injuring many more and bringing down buildings, media reported, just over a day after a quake killed nine people in the same region. Residents living near a dam were told to leave because of fears it might crumble, broadcaster NHK said. Saturday's trembler triggered a tsunami advisory, although it was later lifted and no irregularities were reported at three nuclear power plants in the area, a senior government official said.

Four soldiers killed, two wounded in bomb attack in southeast Turkey: sources Posted: 15 Apr 2016 01:18 PM PDT Four soldiers were killed and two wounded when a bomb hit a military vehicle traveling in the southeastern Turkish province of Mardin on Friday, security sources said. The vehicle was on patrol between the villages of Yazdir and Taslikli in Mardin's Savur district when a handmade explosive was detonated, the security sources said. The two wounded soldiers were being treated in hospital, they said.

Raucous Rousseff impeachment process begins in Brazil Posted: 15 Apr 2016 03:59 PM PDT By Maria Carolina Marcello and Silvio Cascione BRASILIA (Reuters) - Pro-impeachment lawmakers chanted "Dilma Out" in the lower house of Brazil's Congress on Friday, as it opened a raucous three-day debate on whether to impeach President Dilma Rousseff on charges of breaking budget laws. Major trade unions and landless peasant movements planned bigger, nationwide protests on Sunday, when the debate is set to culminate with a vote that Rousseff is widely expected to lose. The government lost a last-ditch appeal on Thursday before the Supreme Court to halt the impeachment process, which could bring further instability or even chaos to Latin America's largest economy after 13 years of rule by the leftist Workers' Party.

Germany's Merkel criticized for allowing prosecution of comedian who mocked Erdogan Posted: 15 Apr 2016 11:27 AM PDT By Noah Barkin and Michelle Martin BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Angela Merkel agreed on Friday to allow prosecutors to pursue a case against a German comedian who mocked Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan, prompting accusations that she had failed to protect free speech and dividing her ruling coalition. Erdogan had demanded that Germany press charges against Jan Boehmermann after he recited a poem about the Turkish leader in a show on German public broadcaster ZDF on March 31, suggesting he hits girls, watches child pornography and engages in bestiality. A section of the German criminal code prohibits insults against foreign leaders but leaves it to the government to decide whether to authorize prosecutors to pursue such cases.

Drug manufacturer must pay $125M in health care fraud case Posted: 15 Apr 2016 04:33 PM PDT BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge in Boston has ordered the former pharmaceutical company Warner Chilcott to pay $125 million to resolve criminal and civil claims in a health care fraud case.

Tornado kills 2 people in Uruguay Posted: 15 Apr 2016 04:30 PM PDT BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Uruguayan authorities say at least two people have been killed when a tornado swept through a small city.

Protests after Macedonia snap elections set for June Posted: 15 Apr 2016 04:30 PM PDT Protesters took to the streets of Skopje for the fourth night in a row Friday, after Macedonia confirmed snap June 5 elections as the country grapples with a bitter political crisis. The date was officially set despite the angry anti-government rallies in protest at President Gjorge Ivanov's decision to halt probes into more than 50 public figures, including top politicians embroiled in a wire-tapping scandal. The early elections, originally agreed for April 24 and then postponed in February to June 5, are part of an EU-brokered agreement to solve the country's seething political feud.

U.S. state prosecutors met with climate groups as Exxon probes expanded Posted: 15 Apr 2016 04:21 PM PDT By Terry Wade HOUSTON (Reuters) - A coalition of U.S. state attorneys general received guidance from well-known climate scientists and environmental lawyers in March as some of them opened investigations into Exxon Mobil for allegedly misleading the public about climate change risks, documents seen by Reuters showed. Peter Frumhoff of the Union of Concerned Scientists, which has urged action on climate change, and Matt Pawa, who litigated against Exxon in a global warming case, were listed as presenters at a March 29 meeting of more than a dozen state prosecutors, according to emails between the offices of attorneys general in New York and Vermont. The previously unknown level of coordination with outside advisers offered a glimpse behind the scenes in an increasingly pitched battle between Exxon and environmental groups.

Guatemalan ex-president linked to new scandal Posted: 15 Apr 2016 04:10 PM PDT GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Former Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina and his then-vice president led a criminal organization that collected at least $30 million in bribes to award a contract to build a port terminal, the country's attorney general and an international anti-corruption commission announced Friday.

Greece must stop locking up child migrants, charity warns ahead of pope's visit Posted: 15 Apr 2016 04:07 PM PDT By Emma Batha LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - At least 1,500 unaccompanied migrant and refugee children stranded in Greece have nowhere safe to stay, with many sleeping rough in the cold and others incarcerated, a charity warned on Saturday ahead of Pope Francis' visit to Lesbos. Save the Children said Greece must stop locking up children and called on the European Union to help open more safe shelters for them. "Children ... are sleeping rough in increasingly volatile unofficial accommodation sites, are being incarcerated in detention centers and are slipping through the cracks of the system," said Amy Frost, Save the Children's team leader in Greece.

WADA revokes Moscow testing laboratory's accreditation Posted: 15 Apr 2016 04:06 PM PDT MONTREAL (AP) — The World Anti-Doping Agency has stripped accreditation from the laboratory in Moscow implicated in a state-sponsored conspiracy.

Top-ranked Jason Day tied for lead in RBC Heritage Posted: 15 Apr 2016 04:05 PM PDT HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Jason Day is back at the top in a bid for his third PGA Tour title in a month.

Venezuela moves clocks forward 30 min to save power Posted: 15 Apr 2016 04:05 PM PDT Venezuela announced Friday it is shifting its time zone forward 30 minutes to save power and alleviate a severe electricity crisis the government blames on the El Nino weather phenomenon. The move, effective May 1, will scrap a half-hour subtraction to the clocks Venezuela's late former president Hugo Chavez introduced in 2007 that gave his country a slight offset to its neighbors. The modified time will see Caracas go back to four hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) -- sharing the same hour as Havana and Washington (on Eastern Daylight Time) -- according to Science and Technology Minister Jorge Arreaza.

Rousseff scraps impeachment broadcast after criticism Posted: 15 Apr 2016 03:59 PM PDT BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff canceled an address to the nation on Friday night in which she was to defend her government in the face of imminent impeachment, a presidential aide told Reuters. The lower house of Congress will vote on Sunday on whether Rousseff should be impeached by the Senate for breaking budget laws, a vote that the leftist leader is widely expected to lose. An opposition party sought a Supreme Court injunction to block her speech, arguing that she was using the resources of the Brazilian state to defend herself. ...

White tiger kills keeper, escapes El Salvador zoo Posted: 15 Apr 2016 03:52 PM PDT A white tiger being kept in a private zoo in El Salvador fatally attacked its keeper on Friday and escaped but was recaptured hours later, police said. "It was a horrible situation," a police inspector, Mario Macal, told AFP. The big cat was being kept in an animal park run by a group called the Wildlife Refuge Foundation on the outskirts of Jayaque, a town just west of the capital San Salvador.

UN envoy says peace in Yemen has never been so close Posted: 15 Apr 2016 03:50 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. special envoy for Yemen who will be leading peace talks next week between the government and Shiite rebels said Friday that peace has never been as close as it is today.

Stigma dogs businessmen going it alone in Cuba Posted: 15 Apr 2016 03:48 PM PDT Anywhere else, Gilberto Valladares would pass for a small businessman with a sense of social responsibility, but in Cuba the hairdresser is stigmatized as "anti-revolutionary" because he has prospered on his own. "Papito" Valladares, who is 46 and sports a buzz cut, worked as a barber for the communist state for 12 years before going into business for himself in 1999.

U.S. Air Force looks to help Latin America fight illegal drugs Posted: 15 Apr 2016 03:44 PM PDT By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Air Force Secretary Deborah James said on Friday she was looking at ways to help Latin American partners boost the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime, possibly by increasing the number of Air Force training flights to the region. James, who just returned from a tour of South America, gave examples of what the Air Force could accomplish by sending more training flights to the region to do double-duty in the drug- and crime-fighting effort.

Panama Papers claim new victim as Spain minister quits Posted: 15 Apr 2016 03:39 PM PDT The worldwide "Panama Papers" scandal claimed a fresh political victim Friday as Spain's industry minister resigned over allegations he had links to offshore companies. Soria's troubles began on Monday when Spanish online daily El Confidencial, which has had access to the Panama Papers -- millions of files leaked from law firm Mossack Fonseca -- said he was an administrator of an offshore firm in 1992. Soria is the latest political victim of the Panama Papers leak, which revealed how the world's wealthy stashed assets in offshore companies, and which the law firm blamed on a computer hack.

After missile failure, higher possibility of North Korea nuclear test Posted: 15 Apr 2016 03:26 PM PDT By Jack Kim and David Brunnstrom SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The likelihood of North Korea conducting a fifth nuclear test, possibly within weeks, has increased because of a failed missile launch on Friday that was an embarrassing setback for leader Kim Jong Un, South Korean officials and international experts said. North Korea holds a ruling Workers Party congress in early May, at which Kim is likely to trumpet his achievements in building up Pyongyang's weapons prowess. South Korean officials and experts say he will be keen to go into the congress with a show of strength, and not a failed rocket launch.

Rio contest offers a room with an Olympic view Posted: 15 Apr 2016 03:20 PM PDT RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Talk about a room with a view. Make that an Olympic view.

Brazil launches rowdy Rousseff impeachment debate Posted: 15 Apr 2016 03:20 PM PDT Brasília (AFP) - Brazilian lawmakers launched a noisy impeachment debate Friday that could topple President Dilma Rousseff, in a political crisis threatening to destabilize the country months before it hosts the Olympics. "This is a historic process, there's no doubt," said House Speaker Eduardo Cunha, one of the leaders of the push to remove Rousseff. Late Thursday, the Supreme Court rejected Rousseff's last-minute bid to have the impeachment proceedings suspended.

US bars government employees from traveling to Acapulco Posted: 15 Apr 2016 03:14 PM PDT MEXICO CITY (AP) — The U.S. government on Friday barred its employees from traveling to the Mexican resort city of Acapulco, where a rise in homicides attributed to drug gangs has made it one of the world's deadliest cities in recent years.

Islamist militants in Philippines set deadline to execute foreign captives Posted: 15 Apr 2016 03:07 PM PDT (Reuters) - Islamist militants in the Philippines on Friday announced a new deadline of April 25 for the execution of three foreign captives and a Filipino, but scaled back their ransom demand in a video posted on social media. In the video, the captives, with machetes held to their necks, asked their families and governments to pay a ransom of 300 million pesos ($6.51 million) each, down from the figure of a billion pesos each that the militants demanded last year. A spokesman for the Philippine military declined to comment, saying he had not seen the video.

US Coast Guard seizes $33M worth of coke in Caribbean waters Posted: 15 Apr 2016 03:05 PM PDT SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard says it has seized $33 million worth of cocaine in international waters south of the Dominican Republic.

Rights commission eyes new entity on missing Mexico students Posted: 15 Apr 2016 02:51 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said Friday it will create a new entity to monitor the case of 43 students who disappeared in southern Mexico after its group of experts ceases investigating at the end of the month.

Top Asian News 9:51 p.m. GMT Posted: 15 Apr 2016 02:51 PM PDT MASHIKI, Japan (AP) — A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.3 struck southern Japan early Saturday, barely 24 hours after a smaller quake hit the same region and killed 10 people. It was not immediately clear whether the latest quake increased the death toll, but authorities said hundreds of calls had come in from residents reporting people trapped inside houses and buildings. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 66 people were trapped inside a nursing home in Mashiki, the hardest-hit town, and rescue efforts were underway. No other details were immediately available. More than 400 people were treated at hospitals, but most of their injuries were not life-threatening, the Japanese broadcaster NHK said, citing its own tally.

2nd strong quake hits southern Japan; some reported trapped Posted: 15 Apr 2016 02:50 PM PDT MASHIKI, Japan (AP) — A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.3 struck southern Japan early Saturday, barely 24 hours after a smaller quake hit the same region and killed 10 people.

DR Congo migrants in limbo as C.Rica, Panama reject them Posted: 15 Apr 2016 02:50 PM PDT San José (AFP) - Around 200 African migrants, most of them from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), were in limbo between Costa Rica and Panama on Friday, with both Central American nations refusing them entry. Costa Rica detained them on Thursday when its northern neighbor Nicaragua turned them back at its border as they sought to cross on their way to try to get to the United States. The migrants protested Friday on the Costa Rican side of the border with Panama to be allowed to continue their journey to America.

Larrazabal takes 2-shot lead at Spanish Open Posted: 15 Apr 2016 02:49 PM PDT SOTOGRANDE, Spain (AP) — Pablo Larrazabal shot a par-71 in the second round through heavy winds to take a two-shot lead at the Spanish Open on Friday.

Blatter angered by claim he was silent about FIFA corruption Posted: 15 Apr 2016 02:43 PM PDT BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — Sepp Blatter says it was "not acceptable" to be accused at a public event Friday that he stayed silent while likely knowing that senior FIFA officials were corrupt.

PJ Harvey, rock poet, turns journalist with eye on decay Posted: 15 Apr 2016 02:37 PM PDT With a guitar in hand rather than a notebook, rocker PJ Harvey has taken on the role of a journalist on a forceful new album that crosses continents to explore modern-day destruction. Although Harvey traveled for the album to war-torn Afghanistan and Kosovo, much of the work explores Washington, where the rocker was interested not in the corridors of power but the poverty just a short distance away.

Cubans relive Obama visit with 'offline Internet' Posted: 15 Apr 2016 02:31 PM PDT By Frank Jack Daniel HAVANA (Reuters) - A curated collection of news and features about U.S. President Barack Obama's historic visit to Cuba last month has become a hit on El Paquete, the island's illegal but tolerated digital media magazine better known for music, films, and soap operas. Often called Cuba's offline Internet and featuring downloaded Internet pages and commercials along with pirated entertainment, El Paquete is a hugely successful dose of content distributed on hard-drives in neighborhoods across the island, where only about a third of people have access to the Web. Cuban state media transmitted live much of the March 20 to 22 visit by the first U.S. president to set foot in Cuba in 88 years, including his keynote speech to the country.

NBA to begin selling jersey sponsorships in 2017-18 Posted: 15 Apr 2016 02:29 PM PDT NEW YORK (AP) — The NBA will begin putting sponsorship logos on player uniforms in 2017-18, a move that could generate at least $100 million annually and a step that the NFL, Major League Baseball and NHL have yet to take.

Impaled polar bear sculpture highlights global warming threat Posted: 15 Apr 2016 02:26 PM PDT A sculpture of an impaled polar bear went on display on Friday in front of the Danish parliament to highlight the impact of global warming. The seven-meter high metal sculpture named "Unbearable" depicts a graph of carbon dioxide accumulation in the atmosphere sky-rocketing into the belly of a polar bear, gutting its abdomen and almost penetrating the back of the beast. Polar bears are among the animal species most threatened by the increase in global temperatures.

Iran says West not sticking to commitments on easing sanctions Posted: 15 Apr 2016 02:25 PM PDT The international community is not sticking to its promises to lift sanctions on Iran in the wake of the nuclear deal, the country's central bank governor said Friday. Valiollah Seif said the US-led world powers involved in the negotiations leading up to the agreement continue to set obstacles to its economic revival. "The impact that we were expecting to get is not what we see, at least on a tangible basis," he told a forum at the Council of Foreign Relations in Washington.

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