Political News from Yahoo

Support for Spain's ruling party falls in corruption scandal

MADRID (Reuters) - Public support for Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his ruling People's Party has fallen as they have been engulfed by a corruption scandal, an opinion poll showed on Sunday. Media reports over the past fortnight have alleged that at least a dozen top party officials, including Rajoy, received kickbacks from a slush fund operated by its former treasurer. While Rajoy has vehemently denied any wrongdoing, the growing scandal has provoked the fury of Spaniards who were already disenchanted with the government's handling of a deep economic recession and high ...


Opposition, rebels take key posts in new Central African Republic government

BANGUI (Reuters) - Opposition parties and a rebel coalition took key ministerial posts, including finance and mining, in a new government announced on Sunday as part of a peace deal in the Central African Republic. President Francois Bozize agreed in mid-January to the formation of a national unity government as part of the deal to end an insurgency which swept to within striking distance of Bangui, capital of the mineral-rich former French colony. ...

Iran says talks with Syria opposition could help stop bloodshed

BERLIN (Reuters) - Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Sunday his talks with the Syrian opposition leader in Munich one day earlier could contribute to finding a solution to the war in Syria. Salehi said Syrian National Coalition leader Moaz Alkhatib's comments to him, in their talks late on Saturday, that he would be willing to talk with representatives of the Syrian government if prisoners were released represented "a good step forward". ...

Pakistan army battles legacy of mistrust in Taliban heartland

CHAGMALAI, Pakistan (Reuters) - In a Pakistan army base high in the mountains on the Afghan frontier, a general explains a strategy for fighting the Taliban he calls simply "WHAM". The name has a distinctly bellicose ring. But the soldiers are learning to fight a new kind of war in a region U.S. President Barack Obama has called the most dangerous on Earth. "WHAM - winning hearts and minds," explains the straight-talking General Nazir Butt, in charge of converting the army's gains on the battlefield into durable security. ...


AP Exclusive: 787 grounded, but batteries can fly

WASHINGTON (AP) — At the time the government certified Boeing's 787 Dreamliners as safe, federal rules barred the type of batteries used to power the airliner's electrical systems from being carried as cargo on passenger planes because of the fire risk.


Iran's Salehi says six powers set February 25 meeting

MUNICH (Reuters) - Six world powers have proposed to hold a new round of talks with Iran on its nuclear program in Kazakhstan on February 25, Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Sunday. "I have good news - I heard yesterday that the P5+1 or EU3+3 will be meeting in Kazakhstan on February 25," he said at the Munich Security Conference. He did not make clear whether Iran had agreed to the meeting. He said he took with "positive consideration" comments by U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday in which he held out the possibility of direct talks with Iran. ...

Pakistan army battles legacy of mistrust in Taliban heartland

CHAGMALAI, Pakistan (Reuters) - In a Pakistan army base high in the mountains on the Afghan frontier, a general explains a strategy for fighting the Taliban he calls simply "WHAM". The name has a distinctly bellicose ring. But the soldiers are learning to fight a new kind of war in a region U.S. President Barack Obama has called the most dangerous on Earth. "WHAM - winning hearts and minds," explains the straight-talking General Nazir Butt, in charge of converting the army's gains on the battlefield into durable security. ...


At least 33 killed in suicide attack in Iraq's Kirkuk: police

KIRKUK, Iraq (Reuters) - At 33 people were killed when a suicide bomber driving a car and two gunmen attacked a police headquarters in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Sunday, police sources said. Kirkuk, an ethnically mixed city of Arabs, Kurds and Turkman, is at the center of a dispute over oil and land rights between Baghdad's central government and the autonomous Kurdistan enclave in the north. (writing by Patrick Markey)

Suicide bomber, gunmen hit police HQ in Iraq's Kirkuk: sources

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least one suicide bomber driving a car and gunmen disguised in police uniforms attacked a police headquarters in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Sunday, police sources said. Initial reports of casualties were unclear. One police official said as many as 30 people could have been killed, but hospital officials in the city said they had received so far only one dead and 50 wounded. ...

Author of "American Sniper" Chris Kyle shot to death: reports

(Reuters) - Chris Kyle, the former U.S. Navy SEAL sniper who was responsible for 160 kills during his career as U.S. Navy SEAL sniper, was shot and killed with another man at a gun range on Saturday, the co-author of Kyle's book said. A suspect, identified as Eddie Ray Routh, was arrested, according to reports. Kyle, who wrote "American Sniper" about his military service from 1999 to 2009, and another man were found dead at the Rough Creek Lodge's shooting range Saturday, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, quoting Erath County Sheriff Tommy Bryant. The second victim was not identified. ...

Efforts to end Alabama hostage situation shrouded in secrecy

MIDLAND CITY, Alabama (Reuters) - Efforts to free a 5-year-old boy from a gunman in an underground bunker, where the man took him after killing the boy's school bus driver, were shrouded in secrecy on Saturday as the standoff in rural Alabama dragged into a fifth straight day. Police sources said the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team was leading negotiations aimed at securing the boy's safe release. But FBI officials have declined to comment, referring calls to local authorities who have been extremely tight-lipped, providing few official updates on the situation. ...


U.S., Mexico reach tomato deal to avert trade war

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government and Mexican tomato growers reached a tentative agreement on Saturday that reduces the threat of a costly trade war stemming from a U.S. decision last year to pull out of a 1996 bilateral tomato trade pact. "I am pleased that we were able to come to an agreement on fresh tomato imports from Mexico that restores stability and confidence to the U.S. tomato market and meets the requirements of U.S. law," U.S. Commerce Under Secretary for International Trade Francisco Sanchez said in a statement. ...


Turkey says tests confirm leftist bombed U.S. embassy

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A member of a Turkish leftist group that accuses Washington of using Turkey as its "slave" carried out a suicide bomb attack on the U.S. embassy, the Ankara governor's office cited DNA tests as showing on Saturday. Ecevit Sanli, a member of the leftist Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front (DHKP-C), blew himself up in a perimeter gatehouse on Friday as he tried to enter the embassy, also killing a Turkish security guard. ...


White House rebuffed Clinton-Petraeus plan to arm Syrian rebels: report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A plan developed last summer by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and then-CIA Director David Petraeus to arm and train Syrian rebels was rebuffed by the White House, The New York Times reported on Saturday. The United States has sent humanitarian aid to Syria but has declined requests for weapons by rebels fighting to overthrow the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. ...


Panetta says politics at play in Hagel questioning

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says "the political knives" came out when former Sen. Chuck Hagel appeared before a Senate committee for a confirmation hearing.

Chicago marchers urge Obama to come home to address gun violence

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and relatives of victims of fatal shootings in Chicago urged President Barack Obama on Saturday to come back to his hometown and address the gun violence plaguing the city. Before a march on the city's South Side, Jackson, a former Democratic presidential candidate, said America's third most populous city needed more help than Mayor Rahm Emanuel and police superintendent Garry McCarthy could offer. "When the president shows up, it shows ultimate national seriousness," said Jackson, a Chicago resident. He also called for the U.S. ...

Mali hails "savior" Hollande, he says fight not over

TIMBUKTU, Mali/BAMAKO (Reuters) - Cheering, grateful Malians mobbed French President Francois Hollande on Saturday as he visited French troops fighting Islamist jihadist rebels, and he pledged France would finish the job of restoring government control in the Sahel state. In a one-day trip to Mali accompanied by his ministers for defense, foreign affairs and development, Hollande was hailed as a liberator in the ancient northern city of Timbuktu, which French and Malian forces retook from the rebels six days ago. ...


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