EU taps Italian for top diplomatic post
BRUSSELS -- European Union leaders on Saturday picked Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini to become the 28-nation bloc's top diplomat for the next five years.
"Federica Mogherini will be the new face of the European Union in our day-to-day dealings with our partners in the world," outgoing EU summit chairman Herman Van Rompuy said. Incumbent EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, whose term ends in October, has been a frequent interlocutor for U.S. secretaries of state and heads the negotiations on Iran's nuclear program.
Mogherini, 41, has been Italy's foreign minister only since February, drawing criticism that she lacks experience.
Addressing the criticism, Mogherini said she will draw on her experience as foreign minister of a Group of Seven country and her past experience as lawmaker.
"I think the institutional experience is very important -- I have some -- but I also think that the experience that one gains through the work in political life and civil society is also of value," she said.
The highly visible job as EU foreign policy chief entails working with the global leaders to deal with international conflicts.
Study: Drug lowers risks of heart failure
An experimental drug has shown a striking efficacy in prolonging the lives of people with heart failure and could replace what has been the bedrock treatment for more than 20 years, researchers said Saturday.
The drug, which is being developed by the Swiss company Novartis, reduced both the risk of dying from cardiovascular causes and the risk of being hospitalized for worsening heart failure by about 20 percent in a large clinical trial.
The results are being presented at the European Society of Cardiology congress in Barcelona, Spain, this weekend and were published Saturday by The New England Journal of Medicine.
Heart failure is a disease in which the heart cannot pump enough blood to the body's organs, resulting in shortness of breath, fatigue and retention of fluids.
Some 5 million to 6 million Americans, and an estimated 26 million people globally, have heart failure, the leading cause of hospitalization in the United States and Europe, according to a recent paper in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Foes of neo-Nazi rally clash with police
STOCKHOLM -- Swedish riot police briefly clashed with counterdemonstrators at a neo-Nazi rally in Stockholm on Saturday, two weeks before a parliamentary election.
Police said four police officers and three civilians were injured in the violence that broke out on the sidelines of a march by about 150 members of the far-right Party of the Swedes.
Thousands gathered in downtown Stockholm to protest peacefully against the march, but a few dozen masked activists attacked police with firecrackers, bottles, eggs and panels from a security fence.
Police spokesman Lars Bystrom said one person was arrested for "preparation for aggravated assault," while another was arrested for trespassing.
Fifteen people were apprehended for violating a ban on wearing masks at political demonstrations.
The Party of the Swedes wants to stop immigration and reserve Swedish citizenship for people with "Western genetic and cultural heritage."
Polls before the Sept. 14 vote show the party has only a fraction of the support needed to enter the national Parliament.
330 hurt in clashes with Pakistani police
ISLAMABAD -- Pakistani police charged with batons and fired tear gas and rubber bullets at thousands of protesters marching toward the prime minister's official residence in Islamabad on Saturday, blanketing the route with clouds of white smoke and clearing the area of demonstrators.
More than 330 people -- including women, children and police officers -- were injured in the clashes between police and demonstrators demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Islamabad Police Chief Khalid Khattak said the protesters were armed with big hammers, wire cutters and axes.
The protest leaders, cricket-legend-turned-politician Imran Khan and anti-government cleric Tahirul Qadri, had called on supporters at a days-long sit-in outside the Parliament building to march on the prime minister's residence. About 20,000 police in riot gear were deployed to block the procession.
In speeches, Khan and Qadri called for protesters to remain peaceful and urged security forces to restrain from using force.
The two allege that Sharif won the 2013 election through voter fraud.
Sharif has said he will not step down. Government negotiators are trying to persuade Qadri and Khan to end their protest and abandon the demand for Sharif's resignation.
A Section on 08/31/2014