Evening Edition

From Yahoo News Top Stories

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Twin Baghdad car bombs kill 29

by Sabah Arar, AFP

1 hr 46 mins ago

BAGHDAD (AFP) – Two near-simultaneous car bombs rocked the Iraqi capital on Sunday, killing at least 29 people and wounding 111 in the city’s deadliest day in a month.

The violence, which saw 38 people killed across the country, was the worst to hit Iraq since US troops declared an official end to combat operations on September 1, and comes with no new government yet formed since a March poll.

The twin blasts struck near the Aden junction in north Baghdad and in the residential district of Mansur in the west at around 10:10 am (0710 GMT), AFP journalists and security officials said.

2 China suspends senior bilateral exchanges with Japan

by Marianne Barriaux, AFP

48 mins ago

BEIJING (AFP) – China said Sunday it had suspended senior bilateral exchanges with Japan over an incident in disputed waters and warned relations with Tokyo had been “severely hurt”.

The announcement comes after a Japanese court authorised prosecutors to extend by 10 days the detention of a Chinese captain accused of ramming his trawler against Japanese patrol boats in the East China Sea.

It also comes as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and his counterpart Naoto Kan prepare to fly to New York to attend a UN gathering where they will meet US President Barack Obama in separate talks.

3 Pope beatifies convert in climax of British visit

by Gildas Le Roux, AFP

41 mins ago

BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom (AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI beatified a 19th century Catholic convert on Sunday in the finale of his historic visit to Britain.

The pope told 55,000 pilgrims gathered in a park in Birmingham, central England, that Cardinal John Henry Newman was a man of “outstanding holiness” whose teachings were as relevant today as they were more than a century ago.

The beatification mass — elevating the late cardinal towards sainthood — was the crowning moment of a four-day trip which the Vatican hailed as a “spiritual success”.

4 Pope expresses ‘shame’ as meets abuse victims

by Gildas Le Roux, AFP

Sat Sep 18, 4:07 pm ET

LONDON (AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI expressed his “shame” and “deep sorrow” in a meeting with victims of clerical abuse on Saturday as thousands of protesters demonstrated against his state visit to Britain.

Earlier, in a homily at Westminster Cathedral the pontiff condemned the “unspeakable crimes” committed by paedophile priests and said they had brought “shame and humiliation” on the Catholic Church and caused “immense suffering”.

The Vatican said the pope met the five victims, four women and a man, in London and was “moved by what they had to say and expressed his deep sorrow and shame over what victims and their families had suffered”.

5 BP’s disastrous broken well in Gulf of Mexico is ‘dead’

AFP

36 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US officials finally declared BP’s broken well in the Gulf of Mexico “dead” on Sunday, five months after the deadly oil rig explosion that set off one of the costliest and largest environmental disasters ever.

Retired admiral Thad Allen, the US pointman for the response to the disaster, said the operation to intersect and cement the deepwater well had been successfully completed.

“With this development, which has been confirmed by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, we can finally announce that the Macondo 252 well is effectively dead,” Allen said.

6 Swedes re-elect government, vote in far-right: exit polls

by Nina Larson, AFP

1 hr 6 mins ago

STOCKHOLM (AFP) – Sweden’s ruling centre-right coalition is heading for a second term after Sunday’s election, exit polls showed, and an emerging far-right party is set to enter parliament for the first time.

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, 45, should see his four-party Alliance become the first right-leaning government to win a second term in nearly a century.

But with just 49.1 percent of the vote, according to exit polls broadcast on Swedish public television, Reinfeldt’s coalition is likely to fall narrowly short of a majority of seats in parliament.

7 Afghans praised for voting in shadow of violence

by Lynne O’Donnell, AFP

Sat Sep 18, 11:59 pm ET

KABUL (AFP) – The United Nations and NATO praised Afghans for their courage in turning out to vote in parliamentary elections despite the threat of extremist violence amid fears over poll irregularities.

At least 14 civilians were killed in the second parliamentary vote since the 2001 US-led invasion ousted the Taliban but more than 3.5 million Afghans took part in the election.

Insurgents fired rockets in several cities and set off bombs at a polling station and beside a convoy carrying the governor of Kandahar, the Taliban stronghold in the south, but officials said several more attacks were foiled.

8 Three more protesters die in Indian Kashmir

by Izhar Wani, AFP

Sun Sep 19, 3:06 am ET

SRINAGAR, India (AFP) – Three more protesters died on Sunday in Indian-administered Kashmir, sparking a new cycle of demonstrations against rule from New Delhi and the tactics of the security forces.

The protesters died in two separate hospitals Sunday after being injured last week in clashes in the disputed Himalayan region, where protests began in June and have escalated in the past week.

Thirty-four civilians have been killed in the last seven days, with a total of 105 protesters and bystanders dead — most of them young men and teenagers — in three and a half months of unrest.

9 Afghanistan vote count begins amid fears of fraud

by Waheedullah Massoud, AFP

Sun Sep 19, 9:42 am ET

KABUL (AFP) – Allegations of fraud and a low voter turnout overshadowed vote counting in Afghanistan’s parliamentary election Sunday after widespread and deadly Taliban violence targeted the key poll.

Western supporters praised the more than four million Afghans who, according to preliminary figures, took part in Saturday’s election, compared with the 4.8 million valid votes cast in last year’s presidential poll.

The bodies of three election workers were found Sunday in northern Balkh province, the head of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) said, following the country’s second parliamentary polls since the Taliban was overthrown in 2001.

10 Germany’s beer fest deploys stench-eating bacteria

by Anne Padieu, AFP

Sun Sep 19, 7:15 am ET

MUNICH, Germany (AFP) – Germany’s giant Oktoberfest beer party, now celebrating its 200th birthday, is rising to a new challenge — stinky drinking halls — with a new weapon: stench-eating bacteria.

In past years, olfactory offences in the giant tents emanating from stale beer, sweat and bratwurst could simply be masked with cigarette smoke.

But now smokers hoping to enjoy a puff with their brew were advised to leave their packets at home after the southern state of Bavaria decided to ban smoking across the state in all pubs, cafes and beer tents.

11 Fraud and turnout weigh on "miracle" Afghan poll

By Paul Tait and Sayed Salahuddin, Reuters

Sun Sep 19, 10:25 am ET

KABUL (Reuters) – The top United Nations diplomat in Afghanistan said on Sunday it was too early to describe a parliamentary election as a success, with an expected 4,000 complaints to be heard and turnout figures not yet established.

Afghan election officials declared Saturday’s result a success despite widespread reports of fraud, worryingly low voter turnout and attacks across the country that killed at least 17 people after the Taliban vowed to disrupt the poll.

“I think that that is premature, with all due respect,” Staffan de Mistura, special representative for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Reuters in an interview.

12 U.S. says BP permanently "kills" Gulf of Mexico well

By Kristen Hays, Reuters

51 mins ago

HOUSTON (Reuters) – With a final shot of cement, BP Plc permanently “killed” its deep-sea well in the Gulf of Mexico that ruptured in April and unleashed the worst oil spill in U.S. history, the top U.S. spill official said on Sunday.

Some 153 days after the Macondo well ruptured, the U.S. government confirmed that BP had succeeded in drilling a relief well nearly 18,000 feet below the ocean surface and permanently sealing the well with cement.

“The Macondo 252 well is effectively dead,” retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, who has overseen the U.S. government’s response, said in a statement. “We can now state, definitively, that the Macondo well poses no continuing threat to the Gulf of Mexico.”

13 Swedish government leads vote but may lose majority

By Patrick Lannin and Niklas Pollard, Reuters

41 mins ago

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden may be set for a hung parliament after an election on Sunday, TV polls showed, with a the center-right government re-elected but losing its majority as an anti-immigrant party wins its first parliamentary seats.

However, as a knife-edge vote count continued, Swedish state TV forecast the governing coalition would win a one-seat majority, based on districts counted two hours after the polls closed.

A hung parliament would unsettle investors, and analysts have predicted a sharp fall in the crown currency against the euro and rising bond yields should the far right Sweden Democrats deprive the government of its outright majority.

14 China suspends contacts as Japan boat row deepens

By Ben Blanchard and Linda Sieg, Reuters

Sun Sep 19, 11:06 am ET

BEIJING/TOKYO (Reuters) – China suspended high-level exchanges with Japan on Sunday and promised tough countermeasures after a Japanese court extended the detention of a Chinese captain whose trawler collided with two Japanese coastguard ships.

The spat between Asia’s two largest economies has flared since Japan arrested the captain, accusing him of deliberately striking a patrol ship and obstructing public officers near uninhabited islets in the East China Sea claimed by both sides.

“China demands that Japan immediately release the captain without any preconditions,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement on the ministry’s website (www.mfa.gov.cn), repeating that Beijing viewed the detention as illegal and invalid.

15 Pope, ending his trip, recalls Nazi terror in WW2

By Philip Pullella and Avril Ormsby, Reuters

2 hrs 48 mins ago

BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters) – Pope Benedict on Sunday expressed “shame and horror” over the wartime suffering caused by his German homeland and said he was moved to mark the 70th anniversary of a key air victory with Britons.

On the last day of a four-day visit to Britain that drew the biggest protest march of any of his foreign trips, the pope also beatified Cardinal John Henry Newman, one of the most prominent English converts from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism.

The pope was seen off from the airport by Prime Minister David Cameron who said Benedict had challenged the “whole of the country to sit up and think” about issues such as social responsibility during his four-day state visit.

16 Three bombs kill 18, wound scores in Iraq

By Muhanad Mohammed, Reuters

Sun Sep 19, 11:49 am ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Three car bombs killed at least 18 people and wounded scores in Iraq on Sunday as tension runs high six months after an election that no one won outright and weeks after U.S. troops ended combat operations.

One blast targeting a national security office killed at least six people and wounded 15, bringing down the facades of nearby houses, the Baghdad security command said.

Interior Ministry sources put the death toll from the blast as high as 19, but other government agencies denied that.

17 Diplomats see little hope in reviving arms talks

By Stephanie Nebehay, Reuters

Sun Sep 19, 5:35 am ET

GENEVA (Reuters) – Nuclear powers and non-nuclear nations are unlikely to ease the deadlock in global disarmament talks next week at a U.N. forum that has failed to achieve any breakthrough for over a decade, diplomats said on Sunday.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the ministerial session in New York on September 24 to give political impetus to the Conference on Disarmament, the world’s sole multilateral negotiating body which is known as the “CD.”

But few people expect the 65-member Geneva forum to move forward on nuclear disarmament, despite endorsements from U.S. President Barack Obama and others for a move toward a nuclear-free world.

18 Blown-out BP well finally killed at bottom of Gulf

By HARRY R. WEBER, Associated Press Writer

2 hrs 36 mins ago

The well is dead. Finally.

A permanent cement plug sealed BP’s well nearly 2.5 miles below the sea floor in the Gulf of Mexico, five agonizing months after an explosion sank a drilling rig and led to the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the federal government’s point man on the disaster, said Sunday BP’s well “is effectively dead” and posed no further threat to the Gulf. Allen said a pressure test to ensure the cement plug would hold was completed at 5:54 a.m. CDT.

19 ‘Serious concern’ over fraud at Afghan elections

By HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press Writers

Sun Sep 19, 12:59 pm ET

KABUL, Afghanistan – The main Afghan election observer group said Sunday it had serious concerns about the legitimacy of this weekend’s parliamentary vote because of reported fraud, even as President Hamid Karzai commended the balloting as a solid success.

The conflicting statements underscored the difficulty of determining the credibility of the vote also hit by militant attacks that hurt the turnout. Afghan officials started gathering and tallying results Sunday in a process that could take weeks if not months to complete.

The country’s international backers offered praise for those who voted Saturday despite bomb and rocket attacks, and voiced hoped for a democratic result. A repeat of the pervasive fraud that tainted a presidential election a year ago would only erode further the standing of Karzai administration – both at home and abroad – as it struggles against a Taliban insurgency.

20 Car Bombs tear through Baghdad, Fallujah; 36 dead

By BARBARA SURK, Associated Press Writer

40 mins ago

BAGHDAD – Three car bombs tore through Baghdad and the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah Sunday, killing at least 36 people. The blasts in the capital were so powerful they sheared the sides off buildings and left streets choked with chunks of rubble.

It was the worst violence since the U.S. military dropped to 50,000 troops in Iraq and formally declared an end to combat operations on Sept. 1, saying Iraqi forces were up to the task of protecting their own country.

Insurgents have hammered Iraqi forces and government buildings, capitalizing on gaps in security as the U.S. scales back its military mission and Iraqi politicians fail to overcome divisions and form a new government after national elections in March.

21 Spiriva as good as Serevent in asthma study

By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer

1 hr 53 mins ago

LOS ANGELES – Researchers say they’ve found a possible new treatment for adults with hard-to-control asthma. Their discovery, however, came at a price.

Scientists of a U.S. government-funded asthma study had to spend nearly $1 million of taxpayers’ money after British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline PLC declined to donate its asthma drug and look-alike dummy medicine for the study, which compared two other treatments.

Editors of the New England Journal of Medicine, which published the study, chastised Glaxo, saying its actions made the research harder and more expensive to do. Drug companies aren’t required to supply their medicines for study, but they often do.

22 Michigan St moves in, Arizona moves up AP poll

By RALPH D. RUSSO, AP College Football Writer

1 hr 19 mins ago

NEW YORK – Michigan State moved into The Associated Press college football poll after its thrilling victory against Notre Dame, while No. 14 Arizona received its best regular-season ranking in 12 years after the Wildcats knocked off Iowa.

There was no movement at the top of the rankings Sunday. The top five of Alabama, Ohio State, Boise State, TCU and Oregon was unchanged from last week.

The Crimson Tide received 53 first-place votes, Ohio State got five and Boise State and Texas each received one.

23 Vatican declares Pope’s visit to Britain a success

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer

42 mins ago

BIRMINGHAM, England – The Vatican declared Pope Benedict XVI’s four-day visit to Britain a “great success” Sunday, saying the pontiff was able to reach out to a nation wary of his message and angry at his church’s sex abuse scandal.

On his final day, Benedict praised British heroics against the Nazis to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and moved an Englishman a step closer to possible sainthood.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said the important thing wasn’t so much the turnout – crowds were much smaller than when Pope John Paul II visited in 1982 – but that Benedict’s warning about the dangers of an increasingly secularized society had been received “with profound interest” from Britons as a whole.

24 GOP divided on how to replace health overhaul law

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press Writer

Sun Sep 19, 9:55 am ET

WASHINGTON – Republicans are promising to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul if they win control of Congress. But with what?

Not even they know.

Some have proposed major changes to workplace coverage, even turning Medicare into a voucher plan. Many prefer small steps that tiptoe around political land mines. Others want a clean start.

25 Obama: Black lawmakers must rally voters back home

By MARK S. SMITH, Associated Press Writer

Sun Sep 19, 2:55 am ET

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama implored black voters on Saturday to rekindle the passion they felt for his groundbreaking campaign and turn out in force this fall to repel Republicans who are ready to “turn back the clock.”

In a fiery speech to the Congressional Black Caucus, Obama warned that Republicans hoping to seize control of Congress want “to do what’s right politically, instead of what’s right – period.”

“I need everybody here to go back to your neighborhoods, to go back to your workplaces, to go to the churches, and go to the barbershops and go to the beauty shops. And tell them we’ve got more work to do,” Obama said to cheers from a black-tie audience at the Washington Convention Center. “Tell them we can’t wait to organize. Tell them that the time for action is now.”

“His speech acknowledged what pollsters have been warning Democrats for months – that blacks are among the key Democratic groups who right now seem unlikely to turn out in large numbers in November.”

26 Swedish election too close to call

By KARL RITTER, Associated Press Writer

29 mins ago

STOCKHOLM – Sweden’s election was heading for a nail-biting finish Sunday with a TV exit poll and partial results showing a far-right party challenging the center-right government’s majority in Parliament.

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt was seeking to become the first center-right leader to win re-election after serving a full term in a Scandinavian welfare nation dominated for decades by the left-wing Social Democrats.

But the Islam-bashing Sweden Democrats appeared set to enter Parliament for the first time, potentially spoiling the governing coalition’s majority in the 349-seat legislature.

27 Ed Dept: Lift a community, raise a school

By CHRISTINE ARMARIO, Associated Press Writer

1 hr 32 mins ago

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Tesheda Mansfield grew up in the protective walls of Sunland Park Elementary, participating in beauty pageants and field day, and walking home from school in the afternoons.

Now when she looks around the South Florida community she and her four daughters call home, she sees teenage boys hanging out at all hours in a nearby park, homes in battered condition, some with wood covering the windows, and groups of men and children sitting listlessly on their front porches.

“There’s a lot of parents over here that don’t have a job,” Mansfield, a hospital receptionist said. “Some of them don’t even know how to put together a resume.”

28 Daley mentored others as he reshaped Chicago

By TAMMY WEBBER, Associated Press Writer

2 hrs 54 mins ago

CHICAGO – When Boeing Co. relocated its headquarters to Chicago from Seattle in 2001, delegations from Las Vegas to Boston came calling to ask how Mayor Richard M. Daley’s city pulled it off. One former Miami mayor says adopting Daley’s school reform ideas helped get him elected. A New Jersey mayor has sought Daley’s advice on assisting ex-convicts.

“He really is sort of like an uncle for mayors, a godfather around the country,” said Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, N.J. “Whatever the issue … you can count on Daley to have created a record on the issue and tried new ideas.”

Daley has been called the best mayor in America, even when criticized by constituents. He has forged strong alliances with the business community, then traveled to promote his city as a global business and tourism destination. He’s mentored leaders from cities large and small.

29 World leaders to spotlight goals to help poor

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer

Sun Sep 19, 12:24 am ET

UNITED NATIONS – At the dawn of the new millennium, world leaders pledged to tackle poverty, disease, ignorance and inequality – and went beyond generalities to commit themselves to specific goals. Progress has been made over the past decade, but many countries are still struggling to meet the 2015 target.

On Monday, another summit will open in New York to review what has, and hasn’t, been done.

“These Millennium Development Goals are a promise of world leaders,” says Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who invited leaders of the 192 U.N. member nations to the three-day summit. “They’re a blueprint to help those most vulnerable and poorest people, to lift them out of poverty. This promise must be met,” he said in an interview with the Associated Press.

30 Will edgier college marketing get a failing grade?

By ERIC GORSKI, AP Education Writer

Sun Sep 19, 12:12 am ET

Drake University hoped a bold, blue “D+” on a direct-mail piece and its admissions website would grab the attention of high school kids inundated with same-old, same-old college recruitment material.

What looked like a pretty bad grade was supposed to entice teenagers to take a closer look at the pluses of attending the school in Des Moines, Iowa.

Drake officials didn’t anticipate their daring idea getting ridiculed on advertising blogs, angering alumni who complained on Facebook that their degrees had been devalued, or inspiring a local store to market “D+ student” T-shirts to amused Drake students and underachievers alike.

31 Los Angeles activists protest police shooting

Associated Press

Sat Sep 18, 4:54 pm ET

LOS ANGELES – Demonstrators are dispersing after a peaceful rally that began near the spot where a Los Angeles Police officer shot a Guatemalan immigrant who was carrying a knife.

Authorities say there were no arrests and no confrontations during the march Saturday that drew about 250 people to the Rampart area west of downtown. Many carried flags from Central American countries and placards decrying the Sept. 5 shooting death of Manuel Jaminez.

Most of the protesters marched past the Rampart police station before winding their way to MacArthur Park. A smaller group took their demonstration to LAPD headquarters downtown.

6 comments

Skip to comment form

  1. This is a big problem for the Democrats in many race. Even here in NY 13, in certain communities and demographics few are interested in re-electing a Blue Dog to the House.

  2. was meant to be charming not sincere. The charm has worn off the day after “happily ever after”.

Comments have been disabled.