UN estimate of Syria death toll highlights discrepancies in casualty reporting

A new United Nations-sponsored report that estimates more than 60,000 people have died in Syria’s political violence has touched off a new dispute that underscores how little is truly known about the toll from a civil war just weeks from beginning its third year.One Syrian activist who provided some of the numbers for the study says he believes the new numbers are inflated, while another says he...

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Karzai meets Obama: How will they shape a post-2014 Afghanistan?

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's visit to Washington this week will shape the future of Afghanistan, as he and Obama determine the number and role – if any – of US forces in Afghanistan post-2014.After more than a decade of war and costly efforts to build infrastructure and train Afghan security forces that now number 350,000, the view from Kabul is still mixed. Many are concerned about what will...

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Britain debates: What should European welfare look like?

On Tuesday, the British government pushed through a parliamentary vote to temporarily cap welfare benefits, setting down a dividing line on an issue that will be pivotal in determining who wins the UK's next general election.But it also is the latest round of a struggle being played out across virtually every European nation facing the questions of what a welfare state should look like in the 21st...

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Tennis-Serena offers ominous warning for Australian Open rivals

BRISBANE, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Serena Williams felt she was close to accessing the sporting "zone" during her emphatic 6-2 6-1 victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the final of the Brisbane International on Saturday.Williams needed only 51 minutes to beat the Russian in an ominous warm-up for the Australian Open, which begins in Melbourne on Jan. 14."I've been in the zone a few times," Williams told...

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Cricket-Australia drop Hussey, rest Clarke for one-dayers

SYDNEY, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Mike Hussey's retirement from international cricket is likely to come sooner than he thought after he was omitted from Australia's squad for the first two matches of their one day series against Sri Lanka on Sunday.Hussey had already said that the third test against Sri Lanka, entering its fourth day at the Sydney Cricket Ground, would be his last for his country and he would...

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Cricket-Australia set target of 141 for third test victory

SYDNEY, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Australia were set a victory target of 141 runs after bowling Sri Lanka out for 278 in their second innings before lunch on the fourth day of the third test on Sunday.The tourists, already 2-0 down in the series, resumed on 225 for seven looking to bulk up their lead of 87 to somewhere between 150 and 175 to give their bowlers something to work with.Dinesh Chandimal hit a...

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NHL: League and players resume face-to-face labor talks

The National Hockey League (NHL) and the union representing its players met face-to-face along with a federal mediator on Saturday with hopes of ending a lockout in time to salvage a condensed season.A small group meeting between the league, union and mediator began early Saturday afternoon in New York, according to a NHL Players' Association (NHLPA) spokesman.The meeting, which began with less than...

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Venezuela VP: Chavez suffers 'new complications'

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Hugo Chavez has suffered "new complications" following his cancer surgery in Cuba, his vice president said Sunday, describing the Venezuelan leader's condition as delicate. Vice President Nicolas Maduro spoke with a solemn expression in a televised address from Havana, saying he had spoken with Chavez and that the president sent greetings to his homeland. Maduro did not give...

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Venezuela's official statement on Chavez's health

English translation of statement read by Vice President Nicolas Maduro in Havana on Sunday about the health of President Hugo Chavez:"The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela fulfills its duty by informing the Venezuelan people about the course of President Hugo Chavez's medical treatment after the surgery performed in Havana, Cuba on Dec. 11."As is known, on December 28 we traveled...

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A lesson in pop culture via Guantanamo

 al-Afghani, Muhammed Rahim al-Afghani poses …more RELATED CONTENTEnlarge PhotoIn this undated photo taken by …Enlarge PhotoThis Oct. 8, 2012 photo taken by …SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — An Afghan man who is being held with the most significant terrorism suspects in U.S. custody has apparently gained extensive knowledge of western pop culture in an unlikely place: the top secret prison-within-a-prison...

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Chavez suffers new complications in cancer fight

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Hugo Chavez's new complications after cancer surgery prompted his closest allies to call for Venezuelans to pray for him on Monday, presenting an increasingly bleak outlook and prompting growing speculation about whether the ailing leader has much longer to live.Vice President Nicolas Maduro looked weary and spoke with a solemn expression as he announced in a televised...

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Venezuelans offer prayers, songs for Hugo Chavez

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelans gathered on plazas and in churches to pray for President Hugo Chavez amid what seems an increasingly gloomy outlook for the ailing leader in his fight against cancer.Following an announcement that Chavez had suffered "new complications" from a respiratory infection after undergoing cancer surgery in Cuba, people were out in the streets of Caracas on Monday talking...

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Roadside bomb kills 7 Afghans

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Officials say a powerful roadside bomb has killed five civilians and two police officers near a police checkpoint in western Afghanistan. The governor of Nimroz province, Mohammad Sarwar Subat, says the blast occurred Thursday as a vehicle carrying the civilians was heading for a court hearing in the provincial capital,...

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Pakistan reports 9th death in polio team attacks

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Another victim from attacks on U.N.-backed anti-polio teams in Pakistan died on Thursday, bringing the three-day death toll in the wave of assaults on volunteers vaccinating children across the country to nine, officials said.Hilal Khan, 20, died a day after he was shot in the head in the northwestern city of Peshawar, said health official Janbaz AfridiSince Monday, gunmen...

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Afghan president welcomes British pullout timeline

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Afghan president on Thursday welcomed the withdrawal of nearly half of the British troops stationed in Afghanistan next year, saying his forces were ready to take up the country's defense.A statement from Hamid Karzai's office said the partial pull-out was an "appropriate" move as NATO forces transfer responsibility for the war against the Taliban to the Afghan military.British...

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Indian women live in fear of violence

NEW DELHI (AP) — It is almost every Indian woman's nightmare, lived daily when in public — a stream of obscene comments, unwanted hands being placed on them and then being blamed for causing the sexual violence. The gang-rape and beating of a 23-year-old student by six men on a bus in New Delhi may have sparked days of protests and demands for authorities to take tougher action, but for...

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SKorea's president-elect faces NKorea uncertainty

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Park Geun-hye promises to reach out to North Korea with more humanitarian aid and deeper engagement after she moves into South Korea's presidential Blue House on Feb. 25. Pyongyang, however, may be in no mood to talk anytime soon.Park's declarations ahead of Wednesday's election that she will soften five years of hard-line policy rang true with voters, even as they rejected...

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