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From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Libya rebels plead for foreign forces or ‘we will die’

by Marc Burleigh, AFP

47 mins ago

MISRATA, Libya (AFP) – A rebel official in Libya’s besieged city of Misrata desperately pleaded Tuesday for Britain and France to send in troops to help against the forces of strongman Moamer Kadhafi, saying “if they don’t, we will die.”

In what was the first request by any insurgents for boots on the ground, a senior member of Misrata’s governing council, Nuri Abdullah Abdullati, said they were asking for the troops on the basis of “humanitarian” principles.

Previously, he told journalists, “we did not accept any foreign soldiers in our country, but now, as we face these crimes of Kadhafi, we are asking on the basis of humanitarian and Islamic principles for someone to come and stop the killing.”

AFP

2 UN says granted ‘safe passage’ into besieged Libya city

by Marc Burleigh, AFP

Tue Apr 19, 4:47 am ET

MISRATA, Libya (AFP) – Libya’s government has granted “safe passage” for United Nations teams in Misrata, the UN said, even as Moamer Kadhafi’s forces pounded the besieged rebel city with rockets and shells.

The UN said it wanted to assess the humanitarian situation on the ground in Misrata, which loyalist troops have being trying to overrun for the past six weeks in heavy fighting which a doctor said had killed more than 1,000 people, mostly civilians.

With thousands clamouring to escape the port city, about 215 kilometres (130 miles) east of Tripoli, Britain said it will charter ships to pick up 5,000 migrant workers after a ferry rescued nearly 1,000 on Monday.

3 Scramble to rescue refugees from Libya’s Misrata

by Marc Burleigh, AFP

Mon Apr 18, 10:35 pm ET

MISRATA, Libya (AFP) – A ferry has rescued almost 1,000 people from Misrata and Britain said it plans to pick up 5,000 more, as UN officials said Moamer Kadhafi’s government has guaranteed “safe passage” for foreign aid workers and to let a UN mission into the besieged port city.

The safe passage was part of an accord on humanitarian access to the capital and other Libyan cities secured in Tripoli on Sunday by UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos, said deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq.

The Kadhafi government also agreed to let a UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs mission into Misrata, said UN humanitarian spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker.

4 Syria govt approves lifting emergency law

AFP

48 mins ago

DAMASCUS (AFP) – Syria’s government approved on Tuesday a bill to rescind a decades-old emergency law and agreed to abolish the state security court, after weeks of pro-democracy protests and hundreds of deaths.

The cabinet also approved a bill regulating demonstrations, the state news agency SANA reported, only hours after the interior minister imposed a total ban on political gatherings and after security forces fired on protesters in the city of Homs, killing four.

More than 2,000 people defied the authorities and protested against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in the northern coastal city of Banias, witnesses said.

5 Syria forces fire on demo, vow to crush ‘armed revolt’

AFP

Tue Apr 19, 5:36 am ET

DAMASCUS (AFP) – Syrian security forces Tuesday fired on a mass protest of thousands in the city of Homs demanding the fall of the regime, hours after the authorities vowed to suppress an “armed revolt” in the country.

“The sit-in was dispersed with force. There was heavy gunfire,” an activist reached by telephone in Damascus told AFP, without being able to give details of possible casualties.

He said the security forces very early Tuesday swarmed into Al-Saa Square, where some 20,000 people were staging a mass sit-in, scattering protesters who had vowed not to leave until President Bashar al-Assad stepped down.

6 Syria vows to suppress ‘armed revolt’ as protesters dig in

AFP

Mon Apr 18, 7:34 pm ET

DAMASCUS (AFP) – Syria on Monday vowed to suppress an “armed revolt” undermining security in the country as protests spread and demonstrators clamoured for more democratic reforms.

The interior ministry issued the warning as thousands of protesters dug in at a main square in the central city of Homs, vowing to stay put until their demands are met.

“The latest incidents have shown that… armed Salafist groups, particularly in the cities of Homs and Banias, have openly called for armed revolt,” said a ministry statement carried by the official SANA news agency.

7 Deadly riots hit Nigeria after Jonathan’s vote win

by Aminu Abubakar, AFP

Tue Apr 19, 8:38 am ET

KANO, Nigeria (AFP) – A new outbreak of deadly post-poll riots hit northern Nigeria overnight as soldiers patrolled the streets on Tuesday after President Goodluck Jonathan and his defeated rival called for calm.

Authorities have not given a death toll for the rioting that began sporadically over the weekend over allegations of vote rigging and quickly spread to some 14 states on Monday.

An estimated 15,000 have been displaced and more than 360 wounded, according to the Red Cross. Police said dozens of people had been arrested.

8 Jonathan declared winner of Nigeria vote

by Ola Awoniyi, AFP

Mon Apr 18, 10:45 pm ET

ABUJA (AFP) – Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan has been declared winner of presidential elections in a landmark vote that exposed regional tensions and led to deadly rioting in the mainly Muslim north.

Jonathan, the incumbent and first president from the southern oil-producing Niger Delta region, won 57 percent of the vote in Africa’s most populous nation, easily beating his northern rival, ex-military ruler Muhammadu Buhari.

Final results declared Monday evening, which the opposition rejected, gave Jonathan 22.5 million votes, while Buhari scored 12.2 million votes for 31 percent.

9 Mekong nations at odds over controversial Laos dam

by Daniel Rook, AFP

Tue Apr 19, 10:18 am ET

BANGKOK (AFP) – Laos faced pressure from its neighbours on Tuesday to delay construction of a controversial dam on the Mekong River as they failed to agree on a project that has sparked deep environmental concerns.

Officials from Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam met in Vientiane to discuss the planned $3.8 billion Xayaburi dam in northern Laos, an impoverished Communist nation which sees hydropower as vital to its future.

Laos’s neighbours raised worries about insufficient environmental studies of the dam’s likely impact, according to a statement released after the meeting, while Laos said there was no need for further consultation.

10 Shanghai showcases auto world’s China hopes

by D’Arcy Doran, AFP

Tue Apr 19, 9:14 am ET

SHANGHAI (AFP) – Foreign and Chinese carmakers unveiled plans on Tuesday to ratchet up investment and introduce new models in China as Shanghai’s auto show opened with all eyes on the world’s largest car market.

World premieres at the show include Volkswagen’s new retro-styled Beetle, General Motors’ new Chevrolet Malibu, Buick Envision and its China-only Baojun 630, and France’s PSA Group introducing its Citroen DS5.

As the first auto show since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan, source of a large number of auto components, Shanghai will allow industry analysts to gauge the impact of the catastrophe on the sector.

11 Taliban breaches Afghan defence HQ, kills two

by Sardar Ahmad, AFP

Mon Apr 18, 4:02 pm ET

KABUL (AFP) – A gunman in Afghan army uniform opened fire inside Kabul’s defence ministry Monday, killing two soldiers and wounding seven in an audacious strike at the heart of government claimed by the Taliban.

The attack, which the militants said was aimed at France’s visiting defence minister Gerard Longuet, was the third major assault on Afghan security targets in four days and one of the worst security breaches in years.

“A person in Afghan army uniform opened fire on his comrades, killed two soldiers, injured seven others, then was targeted himself and was brought down,” Afghan army spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi told AFP.

12 Libya rebels say 10,000 killed, UN sends food aid

by Marc Burleigh, AFP

1 hr 22 mins ago

MISRATA, Libya (AFP) – The UN said Tuesday it has sent food for 50,000 people to west Libya as aid groups scrambled to reach trapped civilians and rebels put the death toll from two months of fighting at 10,000.

One month after NATO allies dropped their first bombs on Moamer Kadhafi’s forces, there appeared no end in sight to what experts are now warning will be a prolonged military stalemate in which civilians casualties will mount.

And with thousands clamouring to escape the besieged rebel city of Misrata, Britain said it will charter ships to pick up 5,000 migrant workers after a ferry rescued nearly 1,000 on Monday.

13 Despite Gulf tragedy, more spills possible: Allen

by Karin Zeitvogel, AFP

Mon Apr 18, 5:54 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States cannot rule out another oil disaster in its waters, the official who led the response to last year’s Gulf of Mexico spill told AFP, as the country marks one year since the tragedy.

“We’re never going to be able to prevent an event from happening out there,” said retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, who has worked on oil spills since the 1980s and led the government response to the disaster that began on April 20 last year, when an oil rig moored off the coast of Louisiana exploded.

Eleven men died and several others were injured as fire ripped through the platform, which two days later sank 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, causing BP’s Macondo well to rupture and start spewing oil into the sea.

14 Leaders pledge aid to complete Chernobyl shelter

by Anna Malpas, AFP

Tue Apr 19, 6:28 am ET

KIEV (AFP) – International leaders pledged millions of dollars at a conference in Kiev on Tuesday to complete a permanent shelter to secure the ruins of Ukraine’s exploded Chernobyl power station.

“The catastrophe at Chernobyl power station left a deep wound that Ukraine will need to live with for many years ahead,” Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said in his opening speech.

“We thank the international community for not leaving Ukraine alone with this problem.”

15 Pope’s shrink film stirs controversy in Italy

by Jean-Louis de la Vaissiere, AFP

Tue Apr 19, 12:59 am ET

VATICAN CITY (AFP) – A new film about a panic-prone pope who needs a psychoanalyst has divided Italy’s Catholics, with a call for its boycott coming from the pages of an influential bishops’ newspaper.

Writing in the Avvenire daily, Vatican expert Salvatore Izzo said Italian director Nanni Moretti’s film “Habemus Papam” was not respectful towards the head of the world’s Roman Catholics and would be “boring” for non-believers.

“We shouldn’t touch the pope — the rock on which Jesus founded his Church,” said Izzo, adding that “even priests” had absolved the film after its release on Friday “with the curious justification that Moretti could have been meaner.”

16 Burkina Faso gets new PM as mutiny spreads

by Romaric Ollo Hien, AFP

Mon Apr 18, 11:34 pm ET

OUAGADOUGOU (AFP) – Burkina Faso’s ambassador to France has been named the African country’s new prime minister as police joined soldiers on a rampage and students staged violent protests against President Blaise Compaore’s regime.

Soldiers and paramilitary police poured into the streets of the northern town of Kaya, firing shots into the air, torching the home of an army regiment chief and ransacking that of a regional officer, residents told AFP by telephone.

It was the first time police had taken part in the uprising that began in the capital Ouagadougou on Thursday. An official said they were demanding their wages and were to be paid Monday.

Reuters

17 Nasdaq and ICE firm up NYSE bid, hope for talks

By Phil Wahba and Paritosh Bansal, Reuters

2 hrs 32 mins ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Nasdaq OMX Group and Intercontinental Exchange Inc promised to pay a $350 million fee to NYSE Euronext if regulators knock down their takeover offer, in a bid to get NYSE to start deal talks.

Nasdaq and ICE also said they had committed financing from banks to back their $11.3 billion bid for NYSE, and expected U.S. antitrust regulators to start a review of their bid soon. A merged Nasdaq and NYSE would have a virtual stranglehold on U.S. stock listings.

The announcement was designed to address two key concerns raised by NYSE’s board: antitrust risk and strategic fit. NYSE had unanimously rejected Nasdaq and ICE’s bid in favor of a $10.2 billion deal with Germany’s Deutsche Boerse AG.

18 Goldman profit drops as trading revenue falls

By Lauren Tara LaCapra and Dan Wilchins, Reuters

1 hr 7 mins ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc posted a 72 percent decline in quarterly earnings as trading revenue dropped, and the bank cautioned that its businesses face headwinds.

The results were stronger than many analysts had expected, but with Goldman discussing risks to future earnings, the bank’s shares fell 1.4 percent to $151.61.

Goldman has long been viewed as an earnings machine, consistently posting some of the highest returns on Wall Street. Investors now wonder if U.S. financial reform will cut into trading revenue and force the bank to focus on investment banking businesses that have historically been less profitable, like stock underwriting and merger advisory.

19 With much at stake, Asia voices confidence in U.S. debt

By Kaori Kaneko and Tetsushi Kajimoto, Reuters

Tue Apr 19, 11:32 am ET

TOKYO (Reuters) – Some of the United States’ biggest creditors moved to shore up confidence in its sovereign debt Tuesday after Standard & Poor’s threatened to cut its credit rating on the world’s top economy, touching a nerve among big holders of Treasuries.

Asian nations have amassed trillions of dollars in U.S. government bonds through recycled export earnings, and have a vital interest in maintaining their value. So it was no surprise that officials were keen to play down the danger.

“The United States is tackling fiscal issues in various ways, so I still think U.S. Treasuries are basically an attractive product for us,” Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

20 U.N. says 20 children killed in Misrata

By Alexander Dziadosz, Reuters

1 hr 14 mins ago

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – The United Nations appealed on Tuesday for a ceasefire in the Libyan city of Misrata, saying at least 20 children had been killed in attacks by besieging government forces on rebel-held parts of the city.

Libya’s third city, where hundreds are believed to have been killed by shelling and sniper fire by Muammar Gaddafi’s forces, is the main focus of efforts to protect civilians caught up in the Libyan leader’s bid to put down an armed rebellion.

At the same time Western powers are looking for ways to support the rebels’ efforts to topple Gaddafi, though NATO said there were limits to what air power could do to end the city’s siege.

21 U.N. says 20 children killed in Misrata

By Alexander Dziadosz, Reuters

1 hr 16 mins ago

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – The United Nations appealed on Tuesday for a ceasefire in the Libyan city of Misrata, saying at least 20 children had been killed in attacks by besieging government forces on rebel-held parts of the city.

Libya’s third city, where hundreds are believed to have been killed by shelling and sniper fire by Muammar Gaddafi’s forces, is the main focus of efforts to protect civilians caught up in the Libyan leader’s bid to put down an armed rebellion.

At the same time Western powers are looking for ways to support the rebels’ efforts to topple Gaddafi, though NATO said there were limits to what air power could do to end the city’s siege.

22 UK to send military advisers to Libyan rebels

By Adrian Croft, Reuters

56 mins ago

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain said on Tuesday it would send military officers to advise Libyan rebels, worrying critics who fear the country is being dragged into a civil war.

London said it would send about a dozen officers to Libya to help insurgents improve their organization and communications, but would not arm the rebels or train them to fight.

With the Libyan conflict risking getting bogged down in a long stalemate, Western powers are searching for ways to bolster the rebels, whose fighting efforts have been disorganized.

23 Italy seeks ways to enable Libyan rebel oil sales

By James Mackenzie, Reuters

2 hrs 10 mins ago

ROME (Reuters) – A meeting of Western and Middle Eastern states in Rome next month will seek ways of enabling oil from Libyan rebel areas to be sold on world markets, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said on Tuesday.

The comments underline the uncertainty created by United Nations sanctions, which were intended to constrain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi but have also prevented rebels from selling oil to raise funds themselves.

Speaking after talks with Mustafa Abdel Jalil, head of the main Libyan rebel council, Frattini said the Libya “Contact Group” of European and Middle Eastern countries, the United Nations, the African Union and the Arab League would meet in Rome in early May.

24 NATO says air power has limits in Misrata siege

By David Brunnstrom, Reuters

Tue Apr 19, 11:41 am ET

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – NATO said on Tuesday it had destroyed dozens of tanks and other armored vehicles besieging the Libyan city of Misrata, but conceded there were limits to what air power could do to end the siege.

“We have been watching the situation in Misrata, and over the past 10 days fighting has been intense,” Brigadier-General Mark Van Uhm, a member of NATO’s military staff, said.

“Our forces have conducted numerous strikes in and around Misrata, and we have destroyed over 40 tanks and several armored fighting vehicles there,” he told a news conference.

25 Misrata shelled again, casualties seen

By Fredrik Dahl and Souhail Karam, Reuters

Tue Apr 19, 8:44 am ET

TUNIS/RABAT (Reuters) – Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi renewed the bombardment of Misrata Tuesday, causing a number of casualties, an Amnesty International researcher in the besieged Libyan city said.

Libya’s third-largest city, the insurgents’ last major stronghold in the west of the country — has been under siege by government troops for more than seven weeks.

Rebels and residents say pro-Gaddafi forces have pounded Misrata heavily in recent days, firing rockets and mortars at insurgent positions and also hitting residential areas.

26 Analysis: Libya oil stuck in legal limbo as U.N. panel shunned

By Louis Charbonneau, Reuters

Tue Apr 19, 3:25 am ET

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Western powers eager to help Libyan rebels sell oil from territories they control are ignoring the U.N. Security Council’s sanctions committee, leaving Libyan crude in legal limbo, envoys and analysts say.

Without definitive guidance on the legal status of Libyan oil from the politically divided U.N. sanctions committee, U.N. diplomats and traders say the oil could remain virtually untouchable as major trading players take care to avoid running afoul of the U.N. sanctions.

U.N. diplomats told Reuters that Security Council members eager to escalate the diplomatic pressure on Gaddafi’s government — above all France and Britain — rushed through the two packages of sanctions and may not have foreseen how difficult the U.N. measures would make it to aid the rebels.

27 Finnish PM-elect seeks to soothe EU bailout fears

By Jussi Rosendahl and Terhi Kinnunen, Reuters

Tue Apr 19, 12:09 pm ET

HELSINKI (Reuters) – Finland’s likely next prime minister ruled out proposing major changes to a bailout package for Portugal, seeking to soothe concerns that the Nordic country’s new government could block EU plans and upset markets.

But Jyrki Katainen, leader of the National Coalition party that won Sunday’s election, also acknowledged that talks to form a new government would take a long time because his party disagrees with anti-euro True Finns party over the bailout plan.

Finland’s parliament, unlike others in the euro zone, has the right to vote on the European Union’s requests for funds.

28 Japan eyes sales tax rise to pay for post-quake rebuild

By Linda Sieg and Kazunori Takada, Reuters

Tue Apr 19, 8:07 am ET

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese consumers may have to help foot the reconstruction bill after last month’s earthquake and tsunami caused $300 billion of damage, further burdening the hugely indebted economy, a newspaper said on Tuesday.

It would be the first increase since 1997, though a sales tax hike had been the subject of fierce political debate before the earthquake struck as one way for Japan to dig itself out of its massive debt.

The government is considering raising the tax by 3 percentage points to 8 percent when the new fiscal year starts next April, the Yomiuri newspaper reported.

29 Apple sues Samsung, says stop copying us

By Dan Levine and Miyoung Kim, Reuters

Tue Apr 19, 7:30 am ET

SAN FRANCISCO/SEOUL (Reuters)- Apple Inc sued Samsung Electronics claiming the South Korean firm’s Galaxy line of mobile phones and tablets “slavishly” copies the iPhone and iPad, according to court papers, a move analysts say is aimed at keeping its close rivals at bay.

Apple is one participant in a web of litigation among phone makers and software firms over who owns the patents used in smartphones, as rivals aggressively rush into the smartphone and tablet market which the U.S. firm jumpstarted with iPhone and iPad.

Nokia and Apple have sued each other in numerous courts and as recently as last month Nokia filed a complaint with the U.S. trade panel alleging that Apple infringes its patents in iPhones, iPads and other products.

30 With an eye to Japan, world pledges cash for Chernobyl

By Richard Balmforth, Reuters

Tue Apr 19, 11:23 am ET

KIEV (Reuters) – World powers, spurred by the nuclear crisis in Japan, on Tuesday pledged 550 million euros ($780 million) to help build a new containment shell at the site of the 1986 Chernobyl accident.

Ukraine had hoped for 740 million euros from governments and international organisations at a conference in Kiev, marking 25 years since the world’s worst nuclear accident.

Officials at the conference were optimistic more funds would still be found to make the Chernobyl site safe.

31 Citi profit sags as revenue shrinks, expenses grow

By Maria Aspan, Reuters

Mon Apr 18, 10:01 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Citigroup Inc’s first-quarter profit fell 32 percent as shrinking loans and poor trading results pressured revenue while expenses surged.

The results highlighted how the third-largest U.S. bank, which teetered on the brink of collapse in the financial crisis, has stabilized but is still struggling to generate real growth.

The results were better than expected, which supported Citigroup’s stock on a day when the U.S. equity market was falling. But like other big banks, the company’s profit came mainly from dipping into money previously set aside to cover bad loans.

32 S&P threatens to cut U.S. credit rating on deficit

By Steven C. Johnson, Reuters

Mon Apr 18, 6:20 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Standard & Poor’s threatened Monday to downgrade the United States’ prized AAA credit rating unless the Obama administration and Congress find a way to slash the yawning federal budget deficit within two years.

S&P, which assigns ratings to guide investors on the risks involved in buying debt instruments, slapped a negative outlook on the country’s top-notch credit rating and said there’s at least a one-in-three chance that it could eventually cut it.

A downgrade, which would leave Germany and France with a higher rating, would erode the status of the United States as the world’s most powerful economy and the dollar’s role as the dominant global currency.

33 Euro zone crisis escalates on Greek debt fears

By Matthias Sobolewski and George Georgiopoulos, Reuters

Mon Apr 18, 4:47 pm ET

BERLIN/ATHENS (Reuters) – Fresh fears that Greece will have to restructure its mountain of debt, possibly as early as this summer, sent the euro and some euro zone bond prices tumbling on Monday as the bloc’s debt crisis escalated.

German government sources told Reuters in Berlin that they did not believe Greece, which sealed a 110 billion euro ($158 billion) bailout from the EU and IMF a year ago, would make it through the summer without a restructuring.

Market confidence was also hit by a new threat to Portugal’s pending bailout from the rise of an anti-euro party in Finnish elections.

AP

34 Britain to send military advisers to Libyan rebels

By KARIN LAUB, Associated Press

23 mins ago

TRIPOLI, Libya – Britain is sending up to 20 military advisers to help Libya’s ragtag rebel force break a military stalemate with Moammar Gadhafi’s army, even as NATO acknowledges that airstrikes alone cannot stop the daily shelling of the besieged opposition-held city of Misrata.

Gadhafi’s troops have been pounding Misrata indiscriminately with mortars and rockets, a NATO general said Tuesday, and residents reported more explosions and firefights in Libya’s third-largest city. Hospitals are overflowing and 120 patients need to be evacuated from the city that has been under siege for nearly two months, the World Health Organization said.

The plight of Misrata’s civilians and the battlefield deadlock are raising new questions about the international community’s strategy in Libya. The leaders of the U.S., Britain and France have said Gadhafi must go, but seem unwilling to commit to a more forceful military campaign. NATO’s mandate is restricted to protecting civilians.

35 Britain to send military advisers to Libyan rebels

By KARIN LAUB, Associated Press

1 hr 1 min ago

TRIPOLI, Libya – Britain is sending up to 20 military advisers to help Libya’s ragtag rebel force break a military stalemate with Moammar Gadhafi’s army, even as NATO acknowledges that airstrikes alone cannot stop the daily shelling of the besieged opposition-held city of Misrata.

Gadhafi’s troops have been pounding Misrata indiscriminately with mortars and rockets, a NATO general said Tuesday, and residents reported more explosions and firefights in Libya’s third-largest city. Hospitals are overflowing and 120 patients need to be evacuated from the city that has been under siege for nearly two months, the World Health Organization said.

The plight of Misrata’s civilians and the battlefield deadlock are raising new questions about the international community’s strategy in Libya. The leaders of the U.S., Britain and France have said Gadhafi must go, but seem unwilling to commit to a more forceful military campaign. NATO’s mandate is restricted to protecting civilians.

36 Yemeni police open fire on protesters, killing 3

By AHMED AL-HAJ, Associated Press

2 mins ago

SANAA, Yemen – Yemeni security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters Tuesday, killing at least three amid rising international concern over the strategically located nation.

The United Nations Security Council met late Tuesday to discuss the deteriorating situation in Yemen, where rights groups say two months of protests calling for the president to step down have claimed 120 lives.

A Yemeni government delegation also headed to nearby Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, for talks with the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council over a proposal for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to transfer power to his deputy to end the crisis. The opposition held similar talks in Saudi Arabia Sunday.

37 Syria lifts hated law, but protesters unimpressed

By ZEINA KARAM and ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY, Associated Press

26 mins ago

BEIRUT – Syria did away with 50 years of emergency rule Tuesday, but emboldened and defiant crowds accused President Bashar Assad of simply trying to buy time while he clings to power in one of the most repressive regimes in the Middle East.

Repealing the state of emergency, which gives authorities almost boundless powers of surveillance and arrest, was once the key demand of the monthlong uprising. But the protest movement has crossed a significant threshold, with increasing numbers now seeking nothing less than the downfall of the regime.

“They don’t want to admit there’s a Syrian revolution,” said one protester in the city of Banias, among thousands who took to the streets in several cities and towns across Syria. “The people are not interested in small changes here and there anymore,” he said, asking that his name not be published out fear for his personal safety.

38 Japan nuke plant starts pumping radioactive water

By MARI YAMAGUCHI and YURI KAGEYAMA, Associated Press

Tue Apr 19, 11:03 am ET

TOKYO – The operator of Japan’s crippled nuclear plant began pumping highly radioactive water from the basement of one of its buildings to a makeshift storage area Tuesday in a crucial step toward easing the nuclear crisis.

Removing the 25,000 metric tons (about 6.6 million gallons) of contaminated water that has collected in the basement of a turbine building at Unit 2 of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant will help allow access for workers trying to restore vital cooling systems that were knocked out in the March 11 tsunami.

It is but one of many steps in a lengthy process to resolve the crisis. Tokyo Electric Power Co. projected in a road map released over the weekend that it would take up to nine months to reach a cold shutdown of the plant. But government officials acknowledge that setbacks could slow the timeline.

39 Feds OK building plan for Mass. ocean wind farm

By STEVE LeBLANC, Associated Press

Tue Apr 19, 2:53 pm ET

BOSTON – A federal agency approved a construction and operations plan for the Cape Wind project off the Massachusetts coast, clearing the way for work to begin on America’s first offshore wind farm as early as this fall, U.S. Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar announced Tuesday.

Approval by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement was required before construction of the proposed 130-turbine wind farm in Nantucket Sound could get under way.

The secretary said the Cape Wind project, which has already received other state and federal permits, could create 600 to 1,000 jobs and that nationwide the wind power industry had the potential for tens of thousands of jobs.

40 Obama rips GOP plan, yet sees hope for a debt deal

By BEN FELLER, AP White House Correspondent

27 mins ago

WASHINGTON – With America’s global credit standing suddenly in question, President Barack Obama insisted Tuesday that Washington has the political will to slash the massive U.S. debt despite fierce, fundamental differences with Republicans about how to do it.

Obama spoke hopefully of compromise with GOP lawmakers, yet still used a campaign-style town hall event to accuse the Republicans of offering a bleak future for the poor, young and elderly with their proposals.

The president seemed intent on assuring financial markets and the watching world that U.S. leaders will get their act together to address a suffocating debt – while at the same time trying to convince voters that only his plan would share the pain fairly.

41 US aims at its deadliest drug problem: painkillers

By CURT ANDERSON, AP Legal Affairs Writer

25 mins ago

MIAMI – The White House drug czar wants doctors, states and law enforcement working harder to stop America’s deadliest drug-abuse problem: highly addictive prescription painkillers. They are killing more people than heroin and cocaine combined as they foster a slew of illegal “pill mill” clinics centered in Florida.

The federal government on Tuesday announced its first-ever comprehensive strategy to combat the abuse of oxycodone and other opioids, aiming to cut misuse by 15 percent in five years. That goal may sound modest, but it would represent a dramatic turnaround: Emergency room visits from prescription drug overdoses doubled from 2004 to 2009, when they topped 1.2 million, according to federal health officials.

“To say we are going to do away with the problem in five years, we cannot do that,” said Dr. Roland Gray, medical director of the Nashville-based Tennessee Medical Foundation and a Food and Drug Administration adviser on addiction issues. “I think they are headed in the right direction.”

42 Obama administration eases pain of Medicare cuts

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press

29 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Millions of seniors in popular private insurance plans offered through Medicare will be getting a reprieve from some of the most controversial cuts in President Barack Obama’s health care law.

In a policy shift critics see as political, the Health and Human Services department has decided to award quality bonuses to hundreds of Medicare Advantage plans rated merely average.

The $6.7 billion infusion could head off service cuts that would have been a headache for Obama and Democrats in next year’s elections for the White House and Congress. More than half the roughly 11 million Medicare Advantage enrollees are in plans rated average.

43 Feds OK building plan for Mass. ocean wind farm

By STEVE LeBLANC, Associated Press

Tue Apr 19, 2:53 pm ET

BOSTON – A federal agency approved a construction and operations plan for the Cape Wind project off the Massachusetts coast, clearing the way for work to begin on America’s first offshore wind farm as early as this fall, U.S. Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar announced Tuesday.

Approval by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement was required before construction of the proposed 130-turbine wind farm in Nantucket Sound could get under way.

The secretary said the Cape Wind project, which has already received other state and federal permits, could create 600 to 1,000 jobs and that nationwide the wind power industry had the potential for tens of thousands of jobs.

44 AP IMPACT: Porn company is amassing 1-800 numbers

By DAVID B. CARUSO, Associated Press

Tue Apr 19, 8:45 am ET

NEW YORK – For years, teenagers across the U.S. could call a toll-free hotline if they had embarrassing questions about AIDS and safe sex. Dial the same number now and you get a recording of giggling women offering to talk dirty to you.

“We both have big appetites for sex,” they purr. “Pinch us and poke us. Spank us and tease us. We love it all. … Enter your credit card number now.”

Those naughty misdials, and countless others like them, appear to be no accident.

45 Egypt: At least 846 killed in protests

By MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press

Tue Apr 19, 1:27 pm ET

CAIRO – At least 846 Egyptians died in the nearly three-week-long popular uprising that toppled long-serving President Hosni Mubarak, electrifying the region, a government fact-finding mission announced Tuesday.

In their report, the panel of judges described police forces shooting protesters in the head and chest with live ammunition and presented a death toll more than twice that of previous official estimates.

“The fatal shots were due to firing bullets at the head and the chest,” the report read, adding that “a huge number of eye injures,” filled hospitals, and hundreds lost their sight.

46 Mobs leave charred corpses, fear in north Nigeria

By JON GAMBRELL, Associated Press

1 hr 26 mins ago

KADUNA, Nigeria – The mobs poured into the streets by the thousands in this dusty city separating Nigeria’s Muslim north and Christian south, armed with machetes and poison-tipped arrows to unleash their rage after the oil-rich nation’s presidential election.

Muslim rioters burned homes, churches and police stations in Kaduna after results showed Nigeria’s Christian leader beat his closest Muslim opponent in Saturday’s vote. Reprisal attacks by Christians began almost immediately, with one mob allegedly tearing a home apart to look for a Quran to prove the occupants were Muslims before setting the building ablaze.

The rioting in Kaduna and elsewhere across Nigeria’s north left charred bodies in the streets and showed the deep divisions in Africa’s most populous nation, as politics mesh with religious and ethnic identity in the country of 150 million people.

47 Chernobyl donors conference falls short of goal

By JIM HEINTZ, Associated Press

Tue Apr 19, 10:59 am ET

KIEV, Ukraine – A donors conference seeking euro740 million ($1.1 billion) to clean up the Chernobyl disaster site fell well short of its goal Tuesday, but officials remained optimistic that money will be found to make the world’s worst nuclear accident site environmentally safe.

Pledges from nations and organizations at the conference totaled about euro550 million ($785 million), along with euro29 million ($41 million) from Ukraine.

The money is being sought to complete the construction of a gargantuan long-term shelter to cover the nuclear reactor that exploded April 26, 1986, and to build a facility to store waste from the plant’s three other decommissioned reactors.

48 A year after spill, Gulf Coast is healing, hurting

By CAIN BURDEAU, Associated Press

22 mins ago

NEW ORLEANS – It was the catastrophe that seemed to crush a way of life, an oil rig exploding in the darkness and plunging the Gulf Coast and its people into months of chaos.

One year after the nation’s worst offshore oil spill began, solemn ceremonies will mark the disaster Wednesday and underscore the delicate healing that is only now taking shape. Oil still occasionally rolls up on beaches in the form of tar balls, and fishermen face an uncertain future.

But traffic jams on the narrow coastal roads of Alabama, crowded seafood restaurants in Florida and families vacationing along the Louisiana coast attest to the fact that familiar routines are returning, albeit slowly.

49 Victims’ families observe OKC bombing anniversary

By TIM TALLEY, Associated Press

Tue Apr 19, 3:03 pm ET

OKLAHOMA CITY – Antonio Cooper Sr. walked across a field of empty chairs that represent the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing, occasionally stopping to read names inscribed in glass panes as he searched for the one dedicated to his 6-month-old son, Antonio Cooper Jr.

“I feel it’s a necessity to be here,” Cooper said Tuesday as he strapped a colorful bouquet of spring flowers to the chair bearing his son’s name on the 16th anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, the worst domestic terror attack in U.S. history and the deadliest on U.S. soil before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The boy’s grandmother, Wanda McNeely, wept softly as she placed a beige stuffed bear on the metal chair that stands on the federal building’s former site. McNeely said the death of her grandson still evokes strong emotions and observing the anniversary of the April 19, 1995, attack doesn’t get easier with the passing years.

50 A decade post-riot, Cincinnati’s image recovering

By DAN SEWELL, Associated Press

Tue Apr 19, 12:07 pm ET

CINCINNATI – Mayor Mark Mallory has shown he has some winning pitches for Cincinnati.

Sporting dreadlocks and picking up dead animals on city streets in the CBS reality show “Undercover Boss,” appearing with Justin Bieber on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and going on national TV to join in the fun over his remarkably bad ceremonial first pitch at a Cincinnati Reds opener, Mallory has gotten plenty of air time.

All that, he says, has allowed him to promote Cincinnati and help draw in new business and events – such as an NAACP convention – that showcased the city’s progress in the decade since racial riots brought an unwelcome spotlight and led to a national boycott called by local civil rights activists to exert pressure on police and encourage economic improvements.

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