Yahoo! News: World News

• 7 defendants convicted in Portugal sex abuse trial (AP)
  AP - A prosecution lawyer says a Portuguese court has found six men and one woman guilty of crimes relating to child sex abuse in a major trial that lasted nearly six years.
  
  
• Gates sees progress in tour of Afghan war zone (AP)
  

  AP - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday he saw and heard evidence that the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy is taking hold in critical Kandahar province.

  
  
  
  
• Egypt protests Iranian comments on peace talks (AP)
  AP - Egypt has canceled a visit by Iran's foreign minister to protest comments in which he accused Arab leaders of betrayal for attending the new round of Mideast peace talks in Washington.
  
  
• Kenya allows Int'l Criminal Court to open office (AP)
  AP - Kenya on Friday allowed the International Criminal Court to open an office in the country, a development that comes after Kenya's commitment to the court came into question when the nation hosted Sudan's indicted leader last week.
  
  
• Crowds attack home of Iranian opposition leader (AP)
  

  AP - Pro-government militiamen attacked the home of an Iranian opposition leader with homemade bombs and beat one of his bodyguards unconscious, an opposition website reported, in an apparent attempt to keep him from attending a key rally on Friday.

  
  
  
  
• Suicide blast kills Tajik policeman, wounds 25 (AP)
  

  AP - A suicide car bomb blast tore through police offices in Tajikistan's second-largest city Friday, killing one policeman and injuring 25 people, local officials said.

  
  
  
  
• S.African union leaders meet as strike continues (AFP)
  

  AFP - Striking civil servants' unions held a second day of meetings in South Africa on Friday as an impasse between government and workers dragged out a crippling 17-day strike.

  
  
  
  
• Judges: Karadzic trial could take extra 2 years (AP)
  AP - Judges warned Friday that Radovan Karadzic's genocide trial could stretch into 2014 — two years longer than expected — if prosecutors and the former Bosnian Serb leader do not speed up the case.
  
  
• Fidel Castro dusts off military uniform (AP)
  

  AP - Fidel Castro dusted off his military fatigues for the first time since stepping down as president four years ago, a symbolic act in a Communist country where little signals often carry enormous significance.

  
  
  
  
• Mexico: Soldiers kill 25 in troubled border state (AP)
  

  AP - Soldiers killed at least 25 suspected cartel members Thursday in a raid and gunbattle in a Mexican state near the U.S. border that has become one of the most dangerous battlegrounds in the country's drug war.

  
  
  
  
• Religious Minorities Suffering Worst in Pakistan Floods (Time.com)
  Time.com - Amid the catastrophes, the country's religious minorities are under assault -- and one group has allegedly been denied official assistance
  
  
• German Banker's Anti-Immigration Book Riles the Nation (Time.com)
  Time.com - A new anti-immigration book by a director on the board of Germany's central bank has outraged the nation -- and has critics calling for his job
  
  
• Australian man's face mauled by shark in Solomons (AFP)
  

  AFP - An Australian man was attacked by a shark which mauled his face and neck during a holiday in the South Pacific Solomon Islands, officials said on Friday.

  
  
  
  
• China approached Canadian fund on rival Potash bid (Reuters)
  Reuters - Chinese and other investors have approached at least one big Canadian pension manager about a bid for Canada's Potash Corp to rival BHP Billiton's $39 billion hostile offer.
  
  
• Obama's peacemaking effort faces steep odds for success (McClatchy Newspapers)
  McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — The first Middle East peace talks in nearly two years got off to a quick start Thursday, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas agreeing to meet again in two weeks and to commence work on the blueprint for a peace treaty.
  
  
• Abbas agrees to fresh Israeli-Palestinian talks in Egypt, but has little support at home (The Christian Science Monitor)
  The Christian Science Monitor - When Israeli-Palestinian peace talks move beyond today's summit in Washington, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas will face a tough balancing act as even his allies at home push back against US and Israeli pressures.
  
  
• Mexico Massacre Galvanises Migrant Rights Activists (OneWorld.net)
  OneWorld.net - MEXICO CITY, Sep 1 (IPS) - Activists in Latin America have been galvanised by atrocities like the recent massacre of 72 migrants near the U.S. border to step up their efforts on behalf of migrant rights.