2014年2月21日星期五

Yahoo! News: India Top Stories - Reuters

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Yahoo! News: India Top Stories - Reuters


Ukraine protesters look past deal

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:31 PM PST

Protesters sing their national anthem at a barricade on February 21, 2014 at the Independent square in KievOpposition leaders face mixed reaction amid unwavering calls for president's ouster.


Florida lawmakers vote to expand ‘stand your ground’ law

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:09 PM PST

FILE - In this July 13, 2013, file photo, George Zimmerman, center, talks to his attorneys Don West, left, and Mark O'Mara during jury deliberations in his trial in Seminole circuit court in Sanford, Fla. Almost as soon as Zimmerman was pronounced "not guilty, the cry of protestors went up, that the U.S. government must get "justice for Trayvon," the unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, killed by Zimmerman. Attorney General Eric Holder, the first black man to lead the nation's law enforcement, says the Justice Department is investigating. But an investigation does not mean a case will move forward; these investigations can take months, even years, and are hard to prosecute. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Gary W. Green, Pool)Less than a week after Michael Dunn was not convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting death of an unarmed teenager, a bipartisan group of Florida lawmakers passed a bill out of committee on Thursday that would expand the state's controversial "stand your ground" law.


Australian police X-ray suspected pink diamond thief

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 07:00 AM PST

A Rio Tinto 1.32 carat square radiant pink diamond known as the Argyle Siren, is seen in Hong Kong on September 20, 2012Australian police said Friday they had arrested and X-rayed a British man over the theft of a pink diamond worth more than Aus$200,000 (US$180,000), with fears he had swallowed the rare jewel. The 29-year-old, reported by Australian media to be British tourist Matthew Osborne, was arrested as he attempted to board an international flight in Melbourne. "He is expected to appear in the Cairns Magistrates Court tomorrow charged with entering premises and stealing property," police said. The pink diamond, from Rio Tinto's exclusive Argyle mine and valued at more than $200,000, was stolen Saturday from a jewellery store at Cairns, in northern Queensland.


Gov't: Not enough water to help Calif. farmers

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 04:09 PM PST

Tumbleweed is seen at an irrigation channel on a farm near Cantua CreekGrowers on front lines of historic drought won't get federal irrigation aid this year.


Tornadoes, strong thunderstorms threaten East Coast

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 09:35 AM PST

Tornadoes now targeting big swaths of the United StatesJust a week after being buried by snow and ice, a number of states along the East Coast are dealing with the threat of thunderstorms and tornadoes on Friday.


Ugandan president: I don't even dare kiss my wife in public

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 10:09 AM PST

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni speaking to press in Juba, South Sudan, on December 30, 2013Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has made an impassioned defence of his decision to crack down on gays, saying his tough stance on immorality meant he would not even dare kiss his wife in public. The statement from the president, carried by local media on Friday, was widely seen as swipe against US President Barack Obama, who has been fiercly critical of Uganda's anti-gay law and who celebrated his own re-election win with a public embrace of his wife Michelle. "If I kissed my wife of 41 years in public, I would lose elections in Uganda," said Museveni, who has led Uganda since 1986 and has been seeking support for another term in office. However, he said that advice from scientists in Uganda's Department of Genetics, School of Medicine and the Ministry of Health showed a "unanimous conclusion.. that homosexuality, contrary to my earlier thinking, was behavioural and not genetic" -- and therefore it should be punished.


Teen U.S. slalom skier displays nerves of steel in big Olympic run

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 10:18 AM PST

US skier Mikaela Shiffrin smiles after winning gold in the Women's Alpine Skiing Slalom at the Rosa Khutor Alpine Center during the Sochi Winter Olympics on February 21, 2014Rosa Khutor (Russia) (AFP) - American teenager Mikaela Shiffrin showed nerves of steel to add Olympic gold to her world slalom title under floodlights at Rosa Khutor on Friday. The 18-year-old, in pole position after the first run, clocked a combined total of 1min 44.54sec over two runs to finish 0.53sec ahead of Marlies Schild of Austria, who won her fourth Olympic medal in three different Games. Another Austrian, Kathrin Zettel, claimed bronze at 0.81sec, denying fourth-placed German Maria Hoefl-Riesch another podium finish in her Olympic swansong. "This has been a dream of mine for a very long time," said Shiffrin, who at the age of 18 years and 345 days became the youngest Olympic slalom champion.


Rebels attack Somalia presidential palace

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 09:24 AM PST

Somalis stands amid the debris after an attack in front of the presidential palace on February 21, 2014 in MogadishuFierce gun battle with al-Qaida-linked militants leaves officials and guards dead.


Ukrainian parliament approves new charter

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 07:39 AM PST

People raise their fists during a rally in Independence Square, the epicenter of the country's current unrest, in Kiev, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014. In a day that could significantly shift Ukraine's political destiny, opposition leaders signed a deal Friday with the country's beleaguered president that calls for early elections, a new constitution and a new unity government. Russian officials immediately criticized the deal and protesters angry over police violence showed no sign of abandoning their sprawling camp in central Kiev. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)An ambitious agreement could be a major breakthrough in the crisis over Ukraine's future.


Detroit plans to cut pensions in bankrupty debt plan

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 10:13 AM PST

FILE - In a Dec. 12, 2013 file photo, Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr speaks during an interview with The Associated Press. Detroit's creditors and residents are expected to get their first official glimpse this week of the road out of bankruptcy, even as fights and tinkering continue. A proposal to restructure the city's debt could be filed by Orr to the bankruptcy court as early as Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014. It's considered a blueprint for Detroit, undergoing the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)DETROIT (AP) — Detroit's emergency financial manager filed a plan Friday that would bring the city out of bankruptcy, providing for the first time a detailed look at what the Motor City would look like when it finally sheds its financial burdens.


Obama throws support behind Dalai Lama, Tibet rights

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 01:48 PM PST

US president Barack Obama (L), pictured in the Oval Office of the White house in Washington on February 9, 2010, and Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, before a lecture in Tokyo on Novemeber 1, 2009US President Barack Obama on Friday offered his "strong support" for the protection of Tibetans' human rights in China as he defied protests from Beijing to meet the Dalai Lama. With China warning that the meeting would derail ties between the world's two largest economies, Obama took care to avoid any trappings of an official visit, receiving the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader in the Map Room of the White House residence and not the Oval Office where he usually talks to dignitaries. The Dalai Lama, usually chatty and playful with foreign audiences, was nowhere to be seen at the White House, which did not allow in reporters. In Beijing, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui summoned the US charge d'affaires, Daniel Kritenbrink, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.


Internet a crucial Venezuela battleground

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 10:05 AM PST

Workers clean the street from debris left over from yesterday's clashes between anti government protestors and police in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014. The graffiti on the wall reads in Spanish "Peace and Liberty". Violence is heating up in Venezuela as an opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, faces criminal charges for organizing a rally that set off a deadly week of turmoil in anti-government protests in Caracas and other cities where demonstrators and government forces clashed leaving several dead and scores of wounded. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)SAN CRISTOBAL, Venezuela (AP) — The battle for Venezuela is being fought as vigorously online as in the streets, with authorities cutting off Internet service to a strife-torn university city and blocking selected websites and a "walkie-talkie" service widely used by protesters.


Slain beauty queen mourned in Venezuela

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 03:46 PM PST

Local beauty queen and college student Genesis Carmona poses for a picture in Puerto Cabello at the state of CaraboboVALENCIA, Venezuela (AP) — A university student beauty queen was mourned Friday in the provincial Venezuelan city where she was slain this week during a political protest, a victim of what government opponents say is indiscriminate violence used by President Nicolas Maduro and his supporters to stifle dissent across the country.


265 Anne Frank books vandalized in Tokyo libraries

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 04:59 PM PST

A ripped copy of Anne Frank's "Diary of a Young Girl" picture book is shown by Shinjuku City Library Director Kotaro Fujimaki at the library in Tokyo Friday, Feb. 21, 2014. Tokyo Libraries said on Friday that hundreds of copies of Anne Frank's diary and related books have been found vandalised across the city's libraries in the last month, sparking fears of an anti-Semitic motive. A total of 265 books in 31 libraries had been found damaged after the first damaged book was found in January, prompting a wider search. (AP Photo/Koji Ueda)TOKYO (AP) — Anne Frank's "The Diary of a Young Girl" and scores of books about the young Holocaust victim have been vandalized in Tokyo public libraries since earlier this year.


Renzi will be Italy's youngest premier

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 03:31 PM PST

Italian Premier designate Matteo Renzi meets reporters at the Quirinale presidential palace, Rome, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014. Democratic Party leader Matteo Renzi has formed Italy's new government, saying the broad coalition aims to give the economically-strapped country "hope. When he and his Cabinet are sworn in on Saturday, Renzi, who had been serving as Florence mayor, will be Italy's youngest premier. Renzi said Friday he aims with his leadership to give a "strong message" to the international community that Italy will be achieving sorely needed electoral and economic reforms quickly. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca)ROME (AP) — Matteo Renzi will be sworn in as Italy's youngest prime minister ever Saturday after he cobbled together a government he says will change the face of the country's politics and economy.


AP source: Tribal killing suspect target of probe

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 05:13 PM PST

Modoc County Sheriff and Coroner Mike Poindexter ducks under crime scene tape Friday, Feb. 21, 2014 outside the tribal headquarters of the Cedarville Rancheria in Alturas, Calif., where local media reports quote police saying a former tribal leader allegedly killed four people and wounded two others in a gun and knife attack Thursday during an evictiion hearing. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard)ALTURAS, Calif. (AP) — The woman who police say killed three family members and a worker at the headquarters building for an Indian tribe that was evicting her and her son from its land was the target of a federal investigation into at least $50,000 in missing tribal funds.


Ukraine takes gold, US hockey falls to Canada

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 04:47 PM PST

From left, Ukraine's relay team Vita Semerenko, Juliya Dzhyma, Olena Pidhrushna and Valj Semerenko pose with an Ukraine's flag, after winning the gold medal in the women's biathlon 4x6k relay at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Four Ukrainian women gave their politically torn country some good news at the Sochi Games on Friday, and Canada delivered more bad news to the United States — yet another Olympic hockey defeat.


AP PHOTOS: Olympic flame at center stage in Sochi

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:39 PM PST

The Olympic flame is lit during a test in the Olympic Park for the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics, Friday, Jan. 31, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. (AP Photo/David Goldman)The Olympic flame has been the backdrop for numerous tourist photos during the Olympics in Sochi, Russia.


For Obama, a new sense of purpose in acting alone

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 03:29 PM PST

President Barack Obama meets with members of the Democratic Governors Association, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington. The National Governors Association 2014 Winter Meeting starts Friday. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)WASHINGTON (AP) — This week, President Barack Obama promoted tougher fuel efficiency standards for trucks. He touted progress on initiatives to strengthen the U.S. patent system. And he signed an executive order intended to speed up the process for approving import or export cargo.


Detroit draws first map to get out of bankruptcy

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 03:37 PM PST

In a photo from Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014 is the monument to the boxer Joe Louis in Detroit. Detroit's emergency manager filed a plan Friday, Feb. 21, 2014 to restructure the city's $18 billion debt by making cuts to pensions and creditors while offering a blueprint for emerging from the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)DETROIT (AP) — Detroit presented its first full road map for leaving bankruptcy Friday, outlining an elaborate plan to restructure $18 billion in debt, demolish thousands of blighted homes and invest in the broken-down infrastructure that has made the city a symbol of urban decay.


Arizona governor asked to nix bill angering gays

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 03:57 PM PST

House Minority Leader Chad Campbell, (D) Phoenix, argues that House Bill 2153 would discriminate against gays and others on the House Floor in Phoenix on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014. House Bill 2153, written by the conservative advocacty group Center for Arizona Policy and the Christian legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom, would allow individuals to use religious beliefs as a defense in a lawsuit filed by another individual. (AP Photo / The Arizona Republic, Michael Schennum) ***MARICOPA COUNTY OUT - NO MAGS- NO SALES - MANDATORY CREDIT***PHOENIX (AP) — Four years after igniting a national uproar over immigration, the Arizona Legislature has jumped into the battle over gay rights with a piece of legislation that had opponents on Friday predicting business boycotts against the state.


Transcripts show Fed at times slow to grasp crisis

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 03:12 PM PST

FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008, file photo, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks on housing and housing finance, at the Federal Reserve in Washington .Federal Reserve officials agonized throughout 2008 over how far they could go to stop a financial catastrophe that threatened to pull the economy into a deep recession, transcripts of the Fed's policy meetings that year show. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve agonized in 2008 over how far to go to stop a financial crisis that threatened to cause a recession and at times struggled to recognize its speed and magnitude.


Good news for Ukraine; More bad news for US hockey

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:10 PM PST

From left, Ukraine's relay team Vita Semerenko, Juliya Dzhyma, Olena Pidhrushna and Valj Semerenko pose with an Ukraine's flag, after winning the gold medal in the women's biathlon 4x6k relay at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Four Ukrainian women gave their politically torn country some good news at the Sochi Games on Friday, and Canada delivered more bad news to the United States — yet another Olympic hockey defeat.


Cellphone calls on planes? Don't ask the feds

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 04:54 PM PST

FILE - This Oct. 31, 2013 file photo shows a plane passenger checking her cell phone before a flight in Boston. While one government agency considers allowing cellphone calls on passenger planes, another now wants to ban them. The Transportation Department signals that it wants to impose a ban on inflight cellphone calls, just two months after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to pursue lifting the current ban. The FCC regulates wireless communications, while the transportation department regulates issues affecting airline passengers. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — It looks like the government is more conflicted about cellphones on planes than most travelers. Even as one federal agency considers allowing the calls, another now wants to make sure that doesn't happen.


Obama pitches minimum wage hike with Dem governors

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 03:06 PM PST

President Barack Obama meets with members of the Democratic Governors Association, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington. The National Governors Association 2014 Winter Meeting starts Friday. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Barack Obama pushes for a minimum wage increase, the real action is in the states.


Colorado, Utah move to hike smoking age to 21

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:57 PM PST

A high school student, who preferred not to be identified, smokes a cigarette in a de facto smoking area just off the property of Lewis-Palmer High School, in Monument, Colo., Thursday Feb. 20, 2014. A proposal to raise the tobacco age to 21 in Colorado is up for its first review in the state Legislature. The bipartisan bill would make Colorado the first with a statewide 21-to-smoke law. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)DENVER (AP) — Two Western states with some of the nation's lowest smoking rates are considering cracking down even more by raising the tobacco age to 21.


Zimbabwe orders deportation of former U.S. congressman

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 07:34 AM PST

Former US congressman Mel Reynolds arrives at the Harare Magistrates courtBy MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE (Reuters) - A Zimbabwean court dismissed pornography charges against former congressman Mel Reynolds on Friday but ordered his deportation after he pleaded guilty to staying in the southern African country on an expired visa. Harare magistrate Tendai Mahwe agreed with Reynolds' lawyer, Arthur Gurira, that state prosecutors had not sought written authority from the prosecutor general to put the former Illinois congressman on trial. Reynolds will still be held in prison while immigration authorities process his deportation papers.


4 dead, 2 injured in shooting at Calif. tribal office

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:58 AM PST

Four dead in shooting at Calif. tribal meetingALTURAS, Calif. (AP) — An eviction hearing at an American Indian headquarters in Northern California turned deadly as a woman who once served as a tribal leader allegedly opened fire, killing four people and critically wounding two others in a gun and knife attack, authorities said.


bnzv